Mission Accomplished
The automotive industry welcomed the new year with the wonderful news of total vehicle sales in 2023 of 429,807 units, surpassing the target of 423,000 units and signaling the industry’s full recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic slowdown.
The good news comes from the joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association. Since the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) has yet to submit its sales report for 2023, it is logical to assume that the total number will still go up. On the other hand, AVID was not regularly submitting its quarterly sales report last year, generating speculation that – for some reason — it has become dormant and may not produce a 2023 sales report at all.
CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said in a press release that improved supply conditions across all brands, new model introductions, and the electrification trend, among others, contributed to the industry’s impressive performance last year. The sustained consumer demand for new motor vehicles cited by Gutierrez, can be traced to the continuing grossly inadequate and substandard public transportation system which the government has failed to resolve up to now.
Changes
Meanwhile, the influx of even more Chinese brands last year and changes in the industry’s distributorship/marketing landscape and executive positions may have also played a role.
For example, 2023 was the first full year of operations of Hyundai Motor Philippines (HMPh), which in June 2022, took over the distribution of Hyundai vehicles from Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI). Under Hyundai Motor Company’s (South Korea) Dong Wook Lee as president, HMPh joined CAMPI instead of AVID where HARI, under Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, was a member. Slowly, HMPh climbed from No. 15 on the CAMPI list in August 2022 to No. 8 on CAMPI’s Top 10 list in July 2023, a position it still held as of year-end of 2023.
Other takeovers in 2023 included China-based SAIC Motor taking over the MG (Morris Garages) brand from The Covenant Car Company, Inc. (TCCCI), as SAIC is MG’s parent company.
Changan, another Chinese brand, is now marketed by Inchcape Philippines the parent company of which is based in the UK. In partnership with the CATS Group, Inchcape PH also distributes Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, Jaguar and Land Rover.
Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, who used to be president of HARI and Changan, has announced that starting January 2024, she will be the president and CEO of TCCCI, which used to distribute MG, but now markets only one brand, Chevrolet.
Astara Philippines (Astara, the parent company, is based in Spain), has taken over the distribution of Peugeot and GAC Motor, the French and Chinese brands, as well as JMC (Jiangling Motors Corp.), well-known in China as a manufacturer of trucks.
Last August, the Ayala Group’s AC Motors took over the distributorship of BYD from Solar Transport and Automotive Resources Corp., which will be the first of dealers under the new management. AC Motors, which already has four other car brands: Honda, Kia, Volkswagen and Maxus, is led by perhaps the youngest CEO in the auto industry, Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala.
Top 10
Except for Isuzu overtaking Honda to grab the No. 6 perch, there have been no changes in the rankings of the top 10 sales performers YTD December 2023 compared to the first semester.
It is hardly surprising that among the top 10 sales performers of 2023, perennial market leader Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) is the only brand with six-digit sales figures. Year-to-date December 2023, TMP sold 200,013 new vehicles, exceeding the 174,106 units it sold in the same period last year (see chart.)
TMP is also the only brand with five-digit sales figures month-to-month: 19,511 units sold in December 2023 and 18,251 in November 2023.
The brands occupying the No. 2 to No. 7 positions in the Top 10 scored five-digit sales figures for 2023: Mitsubishi No. 2 sold 78,371 units, Ford No. 3 sold 31,320 units, Nissan No. 4 sold 27,136 units, Suzuki No. 5 sold 18,454 units, Isuzu No. 6 sold 17,607 units, Honda No. 7 sold 16,645 units.
Month-to-month, the No. 2 to No. 7 brands have four-digit sales figures.
The brands occupying the No. 8 to No. 10 positions have a lot of catching up to do since they each scored four-digit sales figures for the whole year of 2023, and three-digit sales figures month-to-month.
Best-selling newcomers
What is surprising is the new entry in the list of Toyota’s top 3 best-selling models: the Raize, a subcompact SUV/crossover that is built on a Daihatsu platform. In 2023, TMP sold 17,504 Raize units, making it the third best-selling TMP model and eclipsing all other brands in the same category in terms of sales (see chart.) The Raize is now the best-selling subcompact crossover in the country, across all brands.
The good news about the Raize which is tempered by a recall posted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on social media is that TMP will replace, at no charge to the vehicle owners, the slide pin boots damaged by an assemble fault at the brake caliper assembly line. The 4,345 Raize units affected were made between September 12 and December 7, 2022
TMP issued a similar recall for some Avanza and Veloz units assembled in the last quarter of 2022. Like the Raize, the Avanza and Veloz are badged as Daihatsus in other markets overseas.
But the Toyota Raize is not the only newcomer to the best-selling models list. KP Motors Corp. sold 966 units of the Kia Carnival last year to make it the Korean brand’s second best-selling model after the Stonic (2,097 units sold). Apparently, KP Motors has solved the problem of supply not meeting demand when it came to the Carnival, which is a highly esteemed multipurpose van.
Summing up
The CAMPI-TMA joint sales report for 2023 ushers in an even more bullish attitude towards the year ahead for auto industry players, whether these be the top 10 brands, the brands that are not CAMPI members, the newcomer brands from China, and those striving to make it to the Top 10.
Text and graphs by Aida Sevilla-Mendoza
