What’s hot on AutoDeal?

The second quarter (Q2) of the year invigorated the hopeful hearts of the country’s automotive industry, given the rush (pardon the pun Toyota) on the interest to the newly launched cars as well as the slight increase in actual market sales. As we’ve mentioned in our Q2 2018 Insight Report, the local industry has managed to enthuse consumer interest with the introduction of Toyota Rush, the Mitsubishi Xpander and the Nissan Terra, also including the new Ford Mustang, the Volkswagen Santana and the BMW X2.

After the consumer ‘pull-back’ due to the after-effects of the increase in retail prices of many vehicles affected by the passing of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act during the first quarter (Q1), the purchase intent among Philippine car buyers was improving with more prospects targeting the completion of a purchase within the year.

During Q2, the volume of consumers were looking to buy within the three to twelve month period showing steady improvement. While those looking to buy within zero to three month period is lower year-on-year, it is still important to acknowledge that, on average, 44.56% of online inquiries are looking to purchase within three months of their quote request.

While the consumer intent to purchase accelerated, AutoDeal’s overall data gathered also accounted for a year-on-year growth in the total online car buying inquiries, which was up by 21% in Q2. In the same period, the #1 online car marketplace recorded the top 10 most inquired cars with the highest ranks going to the all-new Xpander and Rush, further signifying that the launches heightened market awareness. The other three at the top were the all-time favorites Ford Ranger, Toyota Vios and Toyota Wigo.

Also, it’s quite notable that during Q2 there were more purchases for pickups and crossovers compared to the SUV segment. Given that, the Ford EcoSport was the best runner to the topmost rank of all the cars that was sold through AutoDeal during Q2, while the other top selling cars from the rest of the segments were (in no particular order): Ford Ranger, Ford Everest, Honda City and Suzuki Ertiga.

The sales ratio of mid-size SUVs to pickups or crossover continued to drop for a second consecutive quarter as the proportion of mid-size SUV sales on AutoDeal dropped to an all-time low of 12.69%. As both the crossover and pickup markets continued to rally, the pickup segment accounted for 21.29% of all AutoDeal sales in Q2 while the crossovers took the 20.08% share. The subcompact sales also experienced a small decrease, dropping from 27.6% to 26.6%.

Yet despite the fact that the subcompact cars, light pickup trucks and compact crossovers continued to be the preferred purchases during Q2, the overall consumer inquiries for the mid-size SUV segment in the period saw a 10.59% jump compared to the first quarter of the year.