History repeats in auto sales reshuffle
A reshuffling always happens in the automotive industry during the first few months of a new year. This time, history repeated in the reshuffling of sales performance rankings when Nissan and Suzuki overtook Ford in the top 5 hierarchy.
Year-to-date December 2024, per the joint sales report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association, the top 5 hierarchy consisted of Toyota Motor PH Corp. as No. 1 (as always), Mitsubishi Motors PH Corp. as No. 2 (as expected), Ford Motor Co. PH as No. 3, Nissan Motor PH, Inc. as No. 4, and Suzuki PH, Inc. as the cellar dweller.
In other words, Ford ended 2024 occupying the coveted No. 3 perch despite Nissan having replaced it – turns out, temporarily — at the end of the first quarter. What’s more, Ford was No.3 all year long in 2023.
OVERTAKING PICKUPS
Ford’s reign ended last January when Nissan overtook it anew (2,366 total units sold vs Ford’s 1,577) and Suzuki (1,761 total) sold 184 more vehicles than Ford to take the No. 4 slot.
Last month, Nissan maintained its lead over Ford by 787 more units sold while Suzuki increased its lead over Ford from 184 in January to 224 units.
Now, auto industry observers are waiting to see whether Ford will manage to recover lost ground to recapture the No. 3 ranking.
Could the seesaw battle between Nissan and Ford be traced to the sales of their pickup trucks? Both brands are known for their excellent pickup trucks. Note that YTD February 2025, Nissan had sold 2,021 units of the Navara while Ford sold 1,548 Rangers. (But of course, the Toyota Hilux outsold them both with 4,668 units sold YTD February.)
EVEREST VS TERRA
When it comes to midsize sport utility vehicles, however, Ford had the upper hand, having sold 1,156 units of the Everest compared to 948 units of the Nissan Terra.
Mitsubishi and Suzuki are out of the running as far as pickup trucks and midsize SUVs are concerned, since Suzuki doesn’t manufacture pickups and only produces small SUVs like the Jimny. Mitsubishi does produce midsize SUVs (the Montero Sport) and pickup trucks (the Strada) but neither of these rank among the brand’s top 3 bestsellers. The Triton was only recently introduced as Mitsubishi’s formidable new entry in the midsize pickup truck segment.
Looking at the top 3 bestselling models of each of the top 5 sales performers, note that in 3 out of the 5, a pickup truck is on top. The Hilux has replaced the Vios as Toyota’s topmost best selling vehicle, the Navara is predominant among the Nissan bestsellers, the Ranger in Ford’s case.
VIOS OUTSOLD
As for perennial market leader Toyota, even the Avanza compact MPV has outsold the Vios and the Innova has dropped out of the list. Does this signal the forthcoming further decline of the compact passenger car segment?
But in Mitsubishi’s case, the Mirage G4 subcompact passenger car is still Numero Uno despite the Xpander’s success as the industry’s bestselling 7-seater compact MPV.
Suzuki mainly owes its surge in sales to the mini compact, very affordable S-Presso since the widely admired Jimny subcompact 4WD SUV has a high SRP.
Meanwhile, the arrangement of the rankings in the lower half of CAMPI’s top 10 sales performers remains more or less the same, with MG (Morris Garages) the only made-in-China brand making it to the list. YTD February 2025, a total of 76,768 vehicles have been sold compared to 72,132 vehicles in the same year-ago period.
