Vehicle sales fell 1.4 percent in January to 23,380 units from 23,723 units a year ago, two industry groups said Thursday.
“While this January 2021 sales is still 1.4 percent less than the same month last year with 23,723 units sold, the slight decrease is still considered a positive sign that the industry is slowly recovering,” they said.
The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and Truck Manufacturers Association said the January figure also decreased by 15 percent from December.
Commercial vehicles continued to dominate the market with a total share of 68.80 percent , with the remaining 31.20 percent belonging to the passenger car segment. The CV sales performance reflects the continuous trend of the market preference shifting to larger vehicles, the two groups said.
CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said the industry remained cautiously optimistic about the coming months.
“The pandemic still poses a challenge to the automotive industry. We are also monitoring how the market will react with the imposition of the provisional safeguard duties starting February, which could potentially impact on the prices of imported motor vehicles,” Gutierrez said.