Hyundai Philippines closes 2018 with 6% sales drop

Sales figures often play a huge role in portraying the current relevance of a brand or product to its consumers; it is simply a variable that speaks in accordance with its numbers. With Hyundai Asia Resources (HARI) rendering a total of 35,401 units sold for the year 2018, the brand is going through a hurdle when compared to its sales performance last year.

In comparison to the brand’s 2017 year performance status, which garnered a total of 37,678 units sold, 2018 sales had a slight setback of 6%. This might sound like bad news, but at least the brand managed to deliver relatively better full-year sales numbers despite the general drop in the Philippines automotive industry's numbers.

December 2018 sales soared by about 2,957 units. This completes the entire equation for the 2018 4th quarter sales which landed 9,961 units sold. Notably, passenger cars retained their position for being the bread and butter of the brand, scoping a total of 56.2% of sales. The segment decreased by 22.0% to 19,905 units for the entire year of 2018 compared to the 25,529 units which were sold in the same period of 2017. The Accent continued to dominate the brand’s segment in terms of sales, with the said model having 75.6% of the brand’s total sales in the passenger car segment.

Light commercial vehicles took the spotlight this year, with total sales registered at exactly 15,496 units sold. This record overtakes HARI’s 2017 sales figures by 27.5%. The following numbers were respectively driven by the Kona, Tucson, Grand Starex, and H-100.

Hyundai has proven its constant relevance, given the barriers such as the rise of inflation rates, as well as significant political and economic events faced by the entire automotive industry last 2018. Hopefully, the brand would be able to bounce back this year with its new car releases.