The joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed that new car sales reached 20,765 units compared to 23,380 units a year ago.

The January 2022 figures are also lower by 25.4 percent compared to December 2021 sales—the best monthly sales performance for CAMPI-TMA members since the start of the pandemic.

According to CAMPI, the industry was expecting a slow start to the year where historically, January is sluggish coming from the higher growth sales performance recorded every holiday season.

However, they also attributed the slowdown due to the tightening restrictions reimposed last January as COVID-19 rose.

In January, passenger car sales shrank 20.7 percent to 5,784 units from 8,447 in December 2021 and 7,295 a year earlier. Meanwhile, Commercial Vehicle sales slid 6.9 percent to 14,981 units from 19,399 a month before and 16,085 in January 2021.

Toyota Motor Philippines still leads the industry with a 47.57 percent market share selling 9,877 units. Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation remains in second place with a 14.23 percent market share, moving 2,954 units. Nissan Philippines managed to climb back to third place by selling 1,781 units or enough for an 8.58 percent market share. Suzuki Philippines and Ford Philippines rounds up the Top 5 selling 1,430 (6.89 percent) and 1,213 units (5.84 percent) respectively.