The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. (AVID) says sales reached a total of 50,164 units for the first 7 months of 2019, a slight dip from the 50,505 units sold in the same period last year. In July alone, the AVID members reached 6,987 units—a 11 percent decrease.

AVID President Ms. Fe Perez-Agudo says higher interest rates and stiff competition contributed greatly to the decline.

“The downtrend in inflation and continuous surge of OFW remittances are two factors that will improve consumer confidence, especially high-ticket acquisitions such as vehicles, in the coming months. The completion of infrastructure projects, specifically road and connector links, will hopefully ease traffic and remove one of the hurdles to vehicle ownership in Metro Manila and nearby provinces,” she said.

Despite this, AVID says they’re confident that sales will pick up in the latter part of the year.

AVID’s Passenger Cars (PC) segment dipped by 5 percent in year-to-date sales with a total of 17,706 units sold versus same period last year. Hyundai continues to be the top contributor in PC sales with 10,565 units followed by Suzuki with 5,085 sold since the start of the year.

Meanwhile, the Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) segment grew by 1 percent or 31,878 units sold in the first seven months of the year. This segment continues to be AVID’s top volume driver led by Ford with 12,217 units followed by Hyundai with 8,645 units.

Finally, the Commercial Vehicles (CV) segment grew by 140 percent as Hyundai led the segment with 580 units in year-to-date sales versus same period last year. CV sales are expected to remain strong in lockstep with increased government spending and economic activity.

In terms of brand performance, Ford and Subaru have seen uptick in PC sales thanks to the stronger performance of its EcoSport and XV, respectively. Meanwhile in the LCV segment, Auto Nation Group, the distributor of Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, and RAM sees its sales rise 37 percent for the first 7 months. Due to supply constraints of its Forester, Subaru still shows weaker performance with sales down 20 percent. The biggest loser though remains Chevrolet with overall sales sliding 35 percent year-on-year.

• 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)
• MIPI – Motor Image Pilipinas, Inc. (Subaru)
• JAIPI – JAC Automobile International Philippines (JAC)
• PGA – PGA Cars, Inc. (Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche)
• SMC – Scandinavian Motors Corporation (Volvo)
• SPI – Suzuki Philippines, Inc. (Suzuki)
• TAC – Triesenburg Auto Corporation (Kinglong)
• TCCCI – The Covenant Car Company, Inc. (Chevrolet)