Isuzu Philippines Corp. (IPC) aims to hit 400,000 units in cumulative sales by 2022 as it continues to grow and maintain its lead in the trucks segment.
Hajime Koso, IPC president, in a press briefing announcing the 300,000-unit sales milestone achieved in January this year, said the company has shortened by three years the feat of hitting 100,000 units in sales.
“At that rate, we can probably reach our 400,000 units in the year 2022. When we reach that record, Isuzu will be an essential brand in the Philippines,” Koso said.
Iwao Toide, group chief executive officer for automotive of Mitsubishi Corp. said the Philippines is one of the most important markets for the Isuzu business where the brand has been growing steadily in tandem with the growth of the economy.
Toru Nakata, executive vice president at Isuzu Motors Ltd., said the company views IPC as a valuable and important partner after being the number one truck brand in the Philippines for 20 consecutive years.
Mitsubishi and Isuzu Motors each has a 35 percent stake in IPC.
Nakata also bared a fullmodel change D-Max will be launched next year while the Traviz, rolled out last November, has been well-received.
According to Koso, it took IPC 12 years to achieve its first 100,000 units milestone; 9 years before hitting the next 100,000 units to the 200,000 mark and six yearfor the next 100,000 or the 300,000th milestone.
Joseph Bautista, IPC sales division head, said the company targets to sell 11,000 units for the year, a conservative target in conjunction with industry’s much lower projection.
Bautista sees bright sports for logistics to boost sales especially with the pandemic.
IPC continues to dominate the market for light and heavy duty trucks used by the business-to-business and business-to-customer segments in the delivery of essential goods and the supply of constr uction and manufacturing companies
“We see good prospects to go back (to better sales) by yearend and early next year,” said Bautista on the slowdown in sales this year.
In his speech, Koso said IPC feels impact of the new coronavirus disease 2019 to its sales and aftersales operations prompting the company to adapt.
“We must provide our customers with products, sales methods, and after-sales operations that are suitable for this new normal era… develop(ing) tools for digitalization,” Koso added. – I.Isip
