The automotive industry may be challenged by the decline in consumer spending caused by the global pandemic, but it can still sell at least 275,000 units in the country, according to the local distributor of Kia units.
Kia Philippines President Manny Aligada said his firm is projecting vehicle sales for the whole industry to hit around 275,000 units by the end of the year. This forecast is more optimistic than the industry estimate of 240,000 unit sales for 2020.
Aligada said this projection is based on latest figures showing the slow but steady recovery of automobile sales in the Philippines.
“In April we hit our lowest sales in history, but you can see in May there was already a pickup. We believe that the same will happen in June and figures will be a lot better for July onward, reverting to normal levels before the pandemic,” Aligada said in a virtual briefing on Thursday.
When compared, industry sales of 275,000 units is 35 percent less than the 420,000 units sold in 2019, but this is an improved figure when pitted against the industry expectation of a 40-percent decline.
For one, Aligada said the demand for private cars should go up because of the people’s worry for riding public transport. At the time of virus transmission, he argued households would go as far as stretch their finances by buying a car for safety than to risk contracting an illness by taking mass transport units.
Further, he said the growing platform of e-commerce, especially at the height of cashless transactions, would benefit the commercial vehicle segment, particularly utility vans, of the automotive industry.
“People now want ease of movement in terms of transport of goods. As people are avoiding physical contact, they would shift their purchases to online, where there would be need for logistics and, in specific, delivery vans,” the Kia Philippines chief said.
Of the forecasted 275,000 unit sales this year, Aligada disclosed his firm is hoping to contribute at least 4,000 units. This would bring Kia Philippines to its short term goal of cornering around 1.5 percent of the local vehicle market.
“We have a reachable target, and we hope to achieve that as early as this year,” Aligada said.
Kia Philippines is expanding its dealership network in the face of the pandemic by opening up shops in Marikina, Fairview in Quezon City, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig and Isabela. This would bring the car distributor’s dealer count to 34 sales and service facilities.