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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Imported vehicle sales stage recovery in March

Imported vehicle sales stage recovery in March

Published Apr 26, 2019 12:00 am
By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat Sales of imported motor vehicles started to recover in March with an 8 percent growth over March 2018 driven by strong growth in the light commercial vehicle segment, but not good enough to pull the entire first quarter to a positive territory. According to a report by the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors Inc. (AVID), sales in March reached 7,952 units, 8 percent higher than the 7,380 units sold in March last year. This bucks the first two months of the year which saw a decline of 8 percent. The improvement in March was not enough to lift the entire first quarter but the decline has slowed down to a mere 3 percent to 22,947 units from 23,038 units in the same first quarter of 2018. “AVID’s first quarter 2019 performance indicates that the automotive industry has turned the corner and is now experiencing modest recovery. We expect a further upturn in the next three quarters on the back of improved consumer sentiment, the introduction of exciting and innovative vehicles, and the government’s aggressive infrastructure program. AVID aims to be at the forefront of this growth in vehicle sales,” said AVID President Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo. Agudo cited the LCV or the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment, which registered a 21 percent year-on-year increase with sales totaling 4,998 units, making it the primary growth and volume driver in March. The segment also rose by 4 percent in the first three months of the year, bringing the sales tally to 14,168 units. Ford leads the segment with 5,456 units sold in the first quarter. The passenger cars segment was still negative at 9 percent to 2,831 units in March, and fell 13 percent to 7,993 units in the first quarter of the year. Hyundai continues to lead this segment with 5,404 units sold during the period. In the commercial vehicles (CV) segment, sales slipped by 2 percent to 123 units in March and slightly dipped by 1 percent to 336 in the first quarter. As the leader in this segment, Hyundai posted strong gains with 239 units sold during the period.
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