Vehicle Importers Brush Off Effects Of DTI Safeguard Bond With Strong March 2021 Sales

The DTI safeguard bond, which was supposed to help carmakers with a local presence seemed to have the opposite effect. The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) managed to brush off the effect of the DTI safeguard bond (at least for now) by posting 5,193 units sold in March 2021—just a 4 percent decline compared to February 2021.

Overall, Passenger Car (PC) sales remain down though—dropping a further 10 percent compared to February (1,372 versus 1,518). Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) remained very steady with just a decline of 1 percent (3,676 versus 3,728).

In AVID’s tally, Suzuki Philippines took a resounding lead in the PC segment, selling 733 units last March, followed by Hyundai Asia Resources with 389, and Ford Philippines with 147. Notably, Auto Nation Group—the distributor of Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge managed to grow its sales by around 25 percent, while Motor Image Pilipinas, the distributor of Subaru, posted a similar 27 percent growth.

Meanwhile, in the LCV segment, Ford maintains its lead posting 1,705 units sold followed very closely by Suzuki with 1,626 sold. Hyundai remains third with 847 sold. That figure though is a 30 percent decline from February.

January to March 2021 sales figures though remain positive with a 9 percent growth compared to the same period in 2020. Passenger Cars sold 4,241 units, a decline of 7 percent while Light Commercial Vehicles jumped up 13 percent to 11,198 units. Commercial Vehicles, which include trucks and buses posted a whopping 354 percent growth with 418 units sold.

Suzuki Philippines leads the PC segment with 2,067 units sold for the first three months of 2021, followed by Hyundai at 1,484 and Ford at 408. In LCV sales, Ford is the undisputed leader with 4,786 units sold followed Suzuki at 2,628 and Hyundai with 1,780. Sojitz G Auto Philippines, the distributor of Geely isn’t so far behind the Korean automaker, posting 1,313 units sold.

Said AVID President Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, “The slow uptick of PC is a result of continued low consumer confidence. But let us not discount the commendable performances of LCV and CV, and the hardworking teams that drive them. We see these two segments as our industry’s lifesavers as they lend indispensable support to the country’s revitalized infrastructure development programs.”

Check out the full breakdown below.

Legend:

• ANG – Auto Nation Group (Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Mercedes-Benz)
• BBAI – British Bespoke Automobiles, Inc. (Rolls-Royce)
• BUAI – British United Automobiles, Inc. (Lotus, MINI)
• DMI – DBPHILS Motorsports, Inc. (Aston Martin)
• FGPI – Ford Group Philippines, Inc. (Ford)
• HARI – Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (Hyundai)
• JAIPI – JAC Automobile International Philippines (JAC)
• LMI – Legado Motors, Inc. (GAC)
• MIPI – Motor Image Pilipinas, Inc. (Subaru)
• PGA – PGA Cars, Inc. (Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche)
• SGAP – Sojitz G Auto Philippines (Geely)
• SMC – Scandinavian Motors Corporation (Volvo)
• SPI – Suzuki Philippines, Inc. (Suzuki)
• TAC – Triesenburg Auto Corporation (Kinglong)
• TCCCI – The Covenant Car Company, Inc. (Chevrolet)

Source: Car Guides PH