4 Surprising changes in Q1 top 10 auto sales

The first three months of 2024 produced four surprising changes in the automotive industry’s Top 10 sales rankings:

Nissan PH, Inc. recaptured the coveted third spot from Ford Motor Co. PH, Inc. which had been perched there all year last year. Nissan sold a total of 7,909 vehicles year-to-date March 2024 while Ford sold 7,531 vehicles: a difference of 1,513. Nissan turned the tables on Ford this first quarter which was no mean feat considering that YTD December 2023, Ford outsold Nissan by 4,184 units: Ford’s 31,320 compared to Nissan’s 27,136. Now the question is: Will Nissan be able to maintain its lead, or even grow it, in the next three quarters of 2024?

Another seesaw battle occurred when Honda Cars PH, Inc. recovered the No. 6 slot from Isuzu PH Corp via a slim margin of only 30 units sold. Honda sold 3,841 vehicles compared to Isuzu’s 3,811. YTD December 2023, Isuzu led Honda in sales by 962 units, as it sold 17,607 vehicles while Honda sold 16,645. That was a much bigger margin than Honda’s this quarter, and could mean that sometime this year, Isuzu may dislodge Honda from No. 6. Honda’s best sellers in 2023 were the BR-V compact crossover, City passenger sedan and Brio subcompact hatchback – all smaller vehicles than Isuzu’s best sellers, the Traviz light commercial van, D-Max midsize pickup and N-Series heavy duty trucks.

The biggest surprise of all this quarter was MG, now distributed by SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.) gate-crashing the Top 10 to rise to No. 9, thereby dislodging another made-in-China brand, Geely. SAIC took over the distributorship of MG late last year from The Covenant Car Company (TCCI) and only started operating this March, but already it sold 1,185 MG vehicles in that one month compared to 1,132 Geely vehicles sold by Sojitz Auto PH Corp. from January to March. MG, or Morris Garages, is actually a British brand that SAIC acquired in December 2007 from Nanjing Automobile Corp., a smaller Chinese company that first bought the brand from the defunct MG Rover Group in 2005. MG was founded in Oxford, UK, in 1924. Geely also took over a foreign marque, Volvo which is based in Sweden, by acquiring it from Ford Motor Co. in 2010. Ford had purchased Volvo in 1999. Thus, the two Chinese automakers who have gained entry to the Top 10 are owners of Western legacy brands.

Kia, distributed by the Ayala Mobility – owned KP Motors Corp., was pushed out of the Top 10, what with Hyundai Motor PH, Inc. remaining in the No. 8 slot. The upper five in the Top 10 are Toyota Motor PH Corp. as No. 1, as expected; Mitsubishi Motors PH Corp. as No. 2, again as expected; Nissan up at No. 3; Ford down to No. 4; and Suzuki retaining the No. 5 slot. The lower five are Honda as No. 6, Isuzu as No. 7, Hyundai No. 8, MG No. 9 and Geely No. 10 (see chart.)

Meanwhile, Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) president Rommel Gutierrez said that the joint sales report of CAMPI and the Truck Manufacturers Association shows the industry is on track to achieve its 2024 forecast of 468,300 units, having sold a total of 109,606 vehicles in the first quarter, which is already 23 percent of the target.