Market leader Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. is bullish about the automotive industry’s performance following last year’s recovery.
Alfred Ty, TMP chairman, sees 2020 sales to post a single-digit growth after an encouraging performance in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Ty said as infrastructure starts to roll out, demand for vehicles will go up.
“You cannot count the first six months of last year because the budget was delayed. If you look at just the last six months, that’s the real performance of the economy. This year, the budget was passed early, you have full 12 months to work with,” Ty said.
“In that sense, we are optimistic… for all of the signs… fourth quarter was encouraging,” he added.
But Ty said industry takes a cautious stance on what is happening globally. “All of these are going to impact… (the) US-China (trade row) is quiet for now, that’s good. But for how long… athough all of our products are foreign denominated,” Ty said.
Ty said 2020 will be better than last year when sales registered a single-digit growth after a drop in 2018.
“There will still be a small growth,” Ty added.
Ty said TMP, which has over 40 percent of sales, continues to work on stimulating the market to compete with other players.
“There are so many players in town .. every time we have competition, it will always be more exciting,” he added.
Infrastructure will be a big stimulator for vehicle demand, Ty said.
“Those new highways, new roads, those are all great for the automotive industry. Driving cars will be so much fun once again (because) you have less congestion. I look forward to Skyway Stage 3, Calax (Cavite-Laguna Expressway), the north-south connector … those will be a big stimulator… for the market not just for the fun (of diving) but for convenience from point-to-point,” he said.
Vehicles sold by members of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) grew 3.5 percent in 2019, to 369,941 units, recovering from a 16 percent decline in 2018 when sales stood at 357,410 units from 425,673 in 2017, a record year.
TMP continued to eclipse all assemblers with 162,011 units sold for the year.
TMP also bucked industry trend with a growth of 11 percent from 153, 004 units sold in 2018 but retaining its market share of 43 percent.
TMP sold 53,782 units of passenger cars, up 7.6 percent and 106,229 units of commercial vehicles, an increase of 5 percent.
