Trucks, light duty vehicles in tow
The “heavyweights” are giving the Philippine auto industry a big push.
Collectively known as commercial vehicles (CVs), they are raking it in with skyrocketing sales, according to a recent joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).
A CV component, heavy-duty trucks drove up sales surging by 69 percent from January to April 2025, the Campi-TMA report said.
Light duty trucks had a laudable sale of 16.6 percent; light commercial vehicles, 12.3 percent; and Asian utility vehicles, 3.7 percent.
Overall CV sales for the first four months jumped by 10.3 percent to 119,824 units from 108,667 units in 2024.
Growth driver
As a result, the CV market share reached 73.96 percent while the passenger car segment got 26.04 percent, according to the Campi-TMA data.
Among automakers, Isuzu PH Corporation cemented its position with sales of 5,595 units for a sixth-place finish in the overall vehicle sales, besting Hyundai and Honda.
Segment wise, Isuzu had a 43 percent market share, making itself the best-selling light-, medium- and heavy-duty truck brand, Campi-TMA said.
In 2024, Isuzu sold17,641 vehicles, of which 4,591 units were trucks. Its flagship model, Isuzu N-Series light-duty truck is touted as the best-selling light-duty truck in the country for an unprecedented 26 consecutive years, Campi-TMA data showed.
However, total vehicle sales were weighed down by a 19.5-percent decline in the sales of passenger cars.
Vehicle sales reached 150,654 units from January to April 2025, up 2.54 per cent from 146,920 units in the same period of 2024. This growth rate was slower than the first quarter’s 6.8 percent.
Campi president Rommel Gutierrez traced the sales slowdown to seasonal factors, economic conditions as well as evolving consumer demand.
“Industry leaders continue to monitor market trends and expect further developments in the months ahead,” Gutierrez said in a statement.
In April alone, vehicle sales reached 33, 580 units, down 16.7 percent from 40,306 units in March and down 10 percent from 37,314 units in April 2024.
Chart buster
For the four-month period, Toyota Motor Philippines sold 71,927 units or an increase of 6.4 percent from 67,580 units in 2024. It had a 47.74 percent market share, buttressing its stake at the top of the heap.
Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. sold 29,770 units, an increase of 7 percent from 27,828, for a 19.76 percent market share. Nissan Philippines Inc. Disposed of 8,182 units, down 12.7 percent from 9,375 units in the same period last year. Its market share was 5.43 percent.
The rest of the top five auto companies: Suzuki Philippines, with 7,002 units sold (up by 14.5 percent from 6,117 units last year), for a 4.65 percent market share), and Ford Group Philippines with 6,728 units sold (down 30.6 percent from 9,688 units in 2024) for a 4.47 percent share.
EVs hot and cold
The report showed sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in the first four months of 2025 reached 6,820. No comparative figures were available as Campi/TMA started tracking EV sales only in January.
Compared to the March sales of 1,895 units, April’s EV sales went down by 20.4 percent.
The Campi-TMA report said that 1,509 EVs were sold in April, resulting in four-month sales to 6,820 units. This represented a 5.69% of the total sales pie.
However, month-on-month EV sales dropped 20.4% from 1,895 units in March.
Hybrid EVs accounted for 5,744 units in the first four months. There were 978 battery EVs and 98 plug-in hybrid EVs sold as of end-April.
Toyota Motor sold the most hybrid EVs so far this year with 4,942, followed by Honda Cars Philippines, 442 units.
Nissan Philippines chalked up the highest sales of battery EVs with 409, while Tesla Motors Philippines had 396 units sold.
