MARKET leader Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMPC) said total domestic industry sales may exceed the 250,000-unit target this year, and reach as much as 260,000 units on the back of the steady yearlong uptick in demand.
“As I look at the trend right now, it’s possible that sales may be 250,000 to 260,000 plus,” said TMPC President Michinobu Sugata in a chance interview with reporters.
But Sugata clarified that the 20-percent projected rise in automotive sales for the year will not be revised just yet, although exceeding the 250,000-unit goal is a possibility based on market demand in the first three quarters of the year.
For its part, TMPC is expecting to sell at least 100,000 units in 2014, from around 90,000 in 2013.
The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) previously set a 10-percent sales growth for the year to reach 230,000 units by end-2014.
The 230,000-unit target was revised to 250,000 units, or a 9-percent increase from the original target for the year, due to the solid performance of the auto industry in the first quarter.
In August alone car assemblers notched a sales figure of 19,116 units, down by 8.4 percent over July’s 20,730 units, bringing year-to-date sales to 148,803 units.
On a year-on-year basis, however, August tally of 19,116 units is a 39.5- percent growth over the 13,700 units sold in the same month in 2013.
Combined with car importers’
August sales of 3,302 units, the car industry’s total of 22,418 units outpaces the 16,046 units sold by the local automotive industry in the same month of 2013, reflecting a 39.7-percent year-on-year industry sales growth.
In August TMP remained the market leader among car assemblers, selling 8,424 units, bringing its market share to 44 percent.
Meanwhile, on the $600-million fund mentioned by Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras to direct investments to the automotive industry and
induce job generation, Sugata said he will wait for the official announcement of the final figure and the distribution mechanism. “We will wait for the official statement. At least, the government has an intention. We welcome the movement but we don’t really know the amount and how they’re going to give it,” Sugata said.
At the sidelines of the Philippine Economic Briefing held last week,
Almendras cited a figure of $600 million as a support fund for a competitive auto industry and will be a component of the yet-to-be-released automotive industry road map.