In China, the market remains strong for the biggest carmaker in the world thanks to the performances of its sedan line-up such as the Levin, Corolla, Camry, Avalon, and Lexus brand vehicles. Meanwhile, despite the prolonged state of emergency there, it had minimal effect on the performance of the all-new Harrier and Yaris—its two strongest sellers.

The Japanese carmaker’s local arm, Toyota Motor Philippines continued its strong sales in February 2021 with 13,074 units sold, up 6.4 percent compared to January 2021 figures. This is inline with the rest of the Philippine automotive industry which saw its sales up around 12 percent based on the CAMPI-TMA joint-numbers.

With 23,894 units sold for the first two months of 2021, Toyota Motor Philippines sales are up 12.9 year-to-date.

When it comes to production, Toyota reports that globally the numbers are up 7 percent year-on-year, driven primarily by China.

Locally, despite the imposition of DTI safeguard tariffs meant to protect local manufacturing, Toyota Motor Philippines production figures fell 24.3 percent to 2,747 units last February. Year-to-date numbers are also down 12.1 percent to 6,279 units.

According to Toyota though, the decline in production figures is attributable to the wind down of Innova production at the Santa Rosa, Laguna assembly plant. Since a refreshed 2021 Innova was launched last month, assembly shifted to producing only the Vios for the entire month of February. This month, Toyota Motor Philippines also unveiled a sporty version of its Vios—the Vios GR-S.