Local automotive manufacturers and importers plan to review the current pricing of vehicles and the 2018 industry sales target, after a lackluster performance in the first half amid the implementation of a new tax law and the weakness of the peso.
Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. vice president and Truck Manufacturers Association president Dante Santos said senior officials of both groups sought a second and final review of the first-semester prices and sales.
“All of us are under review. What is under review is the pricing. Pricing as an element of forex [foreign exchange], interest rate and other peripheral cost. We’re very sensitive to that,” he said.
Santos, who is also vice president of Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp., said his company might also impose a new price matrix for every model and variant.
He said Mitsubishi did not make any price adjustment when the first stage of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law was implemented in January.
The fluctuation of the peso against the US dollar also affected the company’s performance. He said there was a need to check and verify some foregone revenues because of the forex movement.
Santos said the peso had weakened considerably and was now a cause of concern among completely build-up unit importers like Mitsubishi.
“We’re expecting that the forex will not move up anymore, not more than P54 to a dollar. Some of us are not moving upward, some have stabilized [their prices], while some are waiting for the right moment to move up,” he said.
The marketing committees of Campi and TMA are set to meet this week to review the previous semester’s sales and the forecast for the rest of the year.
Both earlier agreed to a growth target of a flat to 4-percent increase in volume, but those numbers were elusive so far, Santos said.
“The original outlook was not that big a growth. But there are elements that happened like Train.
Recognizing these elements, we don’t feel like there’ s going to be a big growth like before. In the past, we’re growing by 30 to 35 percent. There are brands that have submitted revised projections. But we have a gentleman’s agreement not to disclose anything until the meeting,” Santos said.
Data showed that vehicle sales plunged 12.5 percent in the first half to 171,352 units from 195,772 units sold in the same period last year.
Santos said Mitsubishi maintained its ranking as the second biggest automotive firm in the Philippines with a 16.56-percent market share as of June.