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Imported vehicle sales up 5% in October: AVID

December 6, 2019, 6:08 pm

MANILA -- The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. (AVID) booked a 5-percent increase in the sales of imported vehicles in October, driven by a higher demand for light commercial vehicles and passenger cars. 
 
In a statement, AVID said it sold 7,320 units in October versus the 7,000 units sold the previous month. 
 
Sales, however, declined slightly by 3 percent or 71,396 units sold year-to-date in October compared to the same period last year.
 
But AVID is optimistic the automotive industry’s performance will make headway in the last two months of the year.
 
“Lower inflation, interest rates, and fuel prices coupled with increased consumer spending with the start of the holiday season could boost industry performance. Increased government spending on key infrastructure projects and the jeepney modernization program will further bolster demand, especially for light and heavy commercial vehicles,” AVID President Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo said.
 
Sales of light commercial vehicles (LCV) grew 6 percent month-on-month with 4,689 units sold for October compared with the 4,413 units sold in the previous month. 
       
However, a slight dip of 4.3 percent in year-to-date sales was recorded with 45,536 units sold versus the same period last year. Ford leads this segment with 16,522 units sold, followed by Hyundai with 12,331 units, and Suzuki with 12,267 units sold since the start of the year.
 
Sales in the passenger cars (PC) segment also grew by 2 percent month-on-month (MOM) with 2,591 units sold in October. Hyundai maintains its industry leadership in this segment with 1,457 units sold in October alone, followed by Suzuki with 690 units. 
 
AVID’s year-to-date sales for PC dipped by 3 percent with 25,133 units sold from 25,821 units sold during the same period last year.
 
Sales of commercial vehicles (CV) segment declined by 7 percent with 40 units sold in October. 
 
But CV sales surged by 87 percent to 727 units in the first 10 months of the year compared to 389 units sold last year.
 
“Despite the challenges AVID faced in the past couple of years, the industry is poised to make a strong comeback as we are poised to step into a new decade. Our members continue to introduce new innovative models, value-packed service offerings, and easier ownership schemes to support our collective goal, which is to give Filipino consumers smarter mobility options so they can live the way they want,” Agudo added. (PR)
 

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