Vehicle sales jump 7.6% in March

Philippine automotive sales grew by 7.6% in March as steady commercial vehicle sales offset a double-digit slump in sales of passenger cars, an industry report showed.

A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed new vehicle sales increased to 40,306 units in March from 37,474 units in the same month a year ago.

Month on month, car sales also grew 2.9% from 39,164 units sold in February.

“Vehicle sales continued to grow but already started to normalize on a year-to-date basis, closer or similar to gross domestic product growth of about 6% for 2025,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

Data from CAMPI-TMA showed passenger car sales declined 16.6% in March to 8,449 from 10,127 a year prior. Passenger cars made up 21% of the total sales in March.

Month on month, sales of passenger cars inched up by 3.6% from 8,154 cars sold in February.

Mr. Ricafort noted the decline in passenger cars reflected a “greater preference for sport utility vehicles, pickups, and vehicles with higher clearance in view of the series of storms, typhoons, and floods in the latter part of 2024.”

On the other hand, commercial vehicle sales, which accounted for 79% of the total, increased by 16.5% to 31,857 in March from 27,347 a year ago.

Month on month, commercial vehicle sales grew 2.7% from 31,010 in February.

Broken down, light commercial vehicle sales rose by 18.2% year on year to 23,754, while Asian utility vehicle (AUV) sales went up by 9.9% to 7,057.

Sales of light-duty trucks and buses surged 40% to 626 in March from 447 units in the same month last year. Sales of medium-duty trucks and buses slipped by 3.9% to 320 from 333 last year.

In March, sales of heavy-duty trucks and buses surged 122.2% to 100 units from 45 units sold last year.

For the first three months of the year, vehicle sales went up by 6.8% year on year to 117,074 units from 109,606 in the same period in 2024.

Commercial vehicle sales increased by 13.9% to 92,742, while passenger car sales dropped by 13.7% to 24,332 in the January-to-March period.

As of end-March, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the market leader with a 47.42% share as its sales rose by 11.8% to 55,513 units.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. came in second with a 12.1% increase in sales to 23,382 units in the January-to-March period. It accounted for almost 20% market share.

In third spot is Nissan Philippines, Inc. which saw a 15% drop in sales to 6,722 units in the first three months.

Rounding out the top five were Suzuki Phils., Inc., which saw a 23.8% increase in sales to 5,441 units, and Ford Motor Co. Phils., Inc. which posted a 30.7% drop in sales to 5,219 units.

RCBC’s Mr. Ricafort said that the industry has been seeing growing demand for electrified vehicles (EVs), hybrid vehicles, and self-driving vehicles.

“The Philippines has yet to catch up with other countries in increasing the demand for EVs and hybrid vehicles, given increased competition in terms of lower prices from China, Vietnam, and other countries,” he said.

“Newer models, more brands, low down payments, and more affordable vehicle purchase schemes… are also still driving demand or sales of vehicles,” he added.

The CAMPI-TMA report showed that 1,895 EVs were sold in March, bringing three-month sales to 5,311 units. This represented a 5.73% market share.

Broken down, hybrid EVs accounted for 4,554 units sold in the first three months. There were 692 battery EVs and 75 plug-in hybrid EVs sold as of end-March. — Justine Irish D. Tabile