Vehicle sales rose 36 percent in the first four months of 2021, a joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association showed.
Four-month total vehicle sales totalled 88,155 units from 64,675 units in the same period in 2020.
April sales hit 17,843, down 13.8 percent from 20,702 units in March due to the reimposition of stricter lockdown.
CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said tighter bank lending continues to dampen the demand for consumer spending especially for big-ticket items like automotive amid the pandemic. Gutierrez said the additional deposit due to safeguard measure poses as a burden to consumers and industry.
But April 2021 sales represented a 13,315-percent increase from the 133 units sold in the same month last year, the height of the community quarantines.
Gutierrez said the industry anticipated this recovery after the automotive sales was severely hit by the pandemic in the same month last year — the sharpest decline in the history of Philippine automotive.
