Car sales drop 4% in disaster-packed 2011

MANILA, Philippines – The floods in Thailand and earthquake in Japan caused automotive sales in the Philippines to drop 4% in 2011, according to the newest joint report from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers in the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).

Total industry sales slid from 147,488 in 2010 to 141,616 in 2011 with a 14.2% month-on-month fall in December alone. 

CAMPI Secretary General Homer Maranan told Rappler via text that the decrease was “because of the supply constraint resulting from the Japan and Thailand crisis.”

Infrastructure in Thailand was badly battered in 2011 after the country faced some of its worst flooding in decades. Damages forced several car companies to temporarily suspend production.

These disrupted supply chains, even in the Phililppines, where car companies either had to suspend production or adjust production volumes as suppliers in Thailand remained flooded. Honda Philippines, for example, temporarily halted operations in its Laguna plant in November.

Meanwhile, Japan, the top seller of cars to the Philippines this year, was hit by a deadly tsunami and earthquake in March of 2011. These were exacerbated by a nuclear crisis that resulted in energy supply, as well as logistics, disruptions.

Four of the top five companies selling vehicles to the Philippines have their head office in Japan.

Specifically, passenger vehicles experienced an 8% decrease in sales compared to the same period in 2010.

Year-on-year there was also a 0.6% fall in light truck sales, as well as a 5.2% slide in truck and bus sales and a 2% decline in sales of commercial vehicles, which include SUVs, pick-up trucks and vans.  

Among the five top sellers, only  Ford Motor Company Philis. Inc. saw a double-digit increase in sales. 

Top five sellers in 2011

Source: Campi, TMA

– Rappler.com