First time this year: PH vehicle production down in March

Philippine vehicle output declined for the first time this year in March as producers tracked the softening of local automotive sales growth.

Latest data released by the Asean Automotive Federation, an umbrella group of industry associations from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), showed that Philippine assemblers had produced 10,407 vehicles during the month, down by 12.9 percent from 11,946 units a year ago.

Domestic production fell as automotive sales growth also slowed in March to 1.6 percent, equivalent to 37,474 units.

Despite the slump in March, the output of the local automotive sector still emerged with a first-quarter growth of 7.7 percent, shored up by the more than 20-percent growth rates earlier recorded in January and February.

From a regional perspective, the Philippines was not alone in recording a decline in output. Five out of six Asean countries that have their own assembly hubs saw a production downturn in varying degrees.

Indonesia suffered the deepest cut, with its volume dropping by 33.9 percent to 89,000 from a year ago.

Thailand, the biggest vehicle producer in the region, followed with a decline of 23.1 percent to 138,331 units.

In Vietnam, production was cut by 21.2 percent to 13,269 units.

Malaysia contracted the least as its vehicle output fell by 12 percent to 66,923 units.

In contrast, Myanmar—which has the lowest production base among the six nations—saw its vehicle output surge by 573.9 percent to 155 vehicles from a meager 23 units a year ago.

Cumulatively, monthly production of all six countries declined by 24.2 percent in March to 318,985 units.

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Meanwhile, all four Asean countries with assembly hubs for motorcycles and scooters—Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand—also recorded varying degrees of decline in the production of two-wheeled vehicles in March.

Malaysia saw the most pronounced production cut; output fell by 26.8 percent to 44,782 from 61,146 units a year ago.

The Philippines followed with a 17.2-percent output reduction to 101,141 units.

Thailand experienced a 9.4-percent decline in output to 179,806 units, while Indonesia had a 6.3-percent production slowdown to 627,586 units.

Overall, the four countries produced 953,315 units of two-wheeled vehicles in March, marking a 9.4-percent contraction. INQ