Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (HARI), the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines, reported a 6 percent drop in sales in 2019 despite a remarkable performance in the commercial vehicle segment.
HARI expects commercial vehicle sales to further surge this year due to higher demand generated by government programs to improve the existing public transportation.
HARI sales reached 33,763 units last year from 35,956 units in 2018.
HARI sales grew for the third consecutive month in December to 3,163 units, up 3 percent from the same month in 2018 but this was not enough to pull up sales.
For full year 2019, commercial vehicle sales of HARI soared 63 percent to 907 units from 555 in 2018.
Late last year, HARI rolled out its Class-2 and Class-3 Modern Jeepneys (built on the Hyundai HD50S platform) to serve the needs of transport cooperatives while the Hyundai H-100 Class-1 Modern Jeepney was launched earlier in the year.
Sales of light commercial vehicles meanwhile dropped 2.6 percent to 15,095 units from 15,436 units in 2018.
Passenger car sales dropped a hefty 11 percent to 17,761 from 19,905 units.
“We rose to the challenges in 2019 and have sustained our position as one of the preferred brands in the market. We are very excited to start the new decade with the introduction of innovative models that will disrupt certain segments and offer customers more and better choices. We shall also carry on with our aggressive passenger car and commercial vehicle network expansion to serve high-growth corridors across the country,” said Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, HARI president and chief executive officer.
