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50,000 cars have been sold from Jan to Jul 2019, says AVID

Despite lower sales numbers, AVID remains strong in the automotive market.

Autodeal on Aug 30, 2019

The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. (AVID) reported a total of 50,164 units sold for the first seven months of 2019. This is a slight drop of 341 units from last year’s sales of 50,505 units in the same period. AVID is a private, non-stock, non-profit business association that contains 11 leading automotive firms that represent 20 class brands in the Philippines. It contains car manufacturers such as Ford, Hyundai, Subaru, and Suzuki, to name a few.

AVID was able to reach a total number of 6,987 units sold in July. It shows an 11 percent drop from July of last year – the drop may be accredited to higher interest rates and stiffer competition. Despite this, the group is confident that sales will pick up in the latter part of the year with better market conditions.

The downtrend in inflation and continuous surge of OFW remittances are two factors that will improve consumer confidence, especially high-ticket acquisitions such as vehicles, in the coming months. The completion of infrastructure projects, specifically road and connector links, will hopefully ease traffic and remove one of the hurdles to vehicle ownership in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Fe Perez-Agudo
AVID President

AVID’s passenger cars (PC) segment dipped by 5 percent in its year-to-date sales with a total of 17,706 units sold versus the same period last year. Hyundai, one of its associated brands, continues to be a top contributor in PC sales with 10,565 units followed by Suzuki with 5,085 units sold since the start of the year.

Over in the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment grew by one percent or 31,878 units sold in the first seven months of the year. This is AVID’s top volume driver with Ford taking the lead with 12,217 units sold followed by Hyundai with 8,645 units.

The commercial vehicles (CV) segment grew by 148 percent. The growth represents 580 units sold in year-to-date sales versus the same period last year. CV sales are expected to continue to be strong especially with increased government spending and economic activity.

AVID continues to work with its partners to push for sustainable mobility and responsible technology. This includes the attendance of its members at the recently concluded 7th Philippine Electric Vehicle summit. Here the representatives discussed challenges and solutions to making electric vehicles more accessible to the public.