By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter

PHILIPPINE AUTOMOTIVE SALES slipped by 1.2% in May to 39,775, amid a double-digit drop in sales of passenger cars, an industry report showed.

A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed new vehicle sales fell to 39,775 units in May from 40,271 units in the same month a year ago.

Month on month, car sales jumped by 18.4% from 33,580 units sold in April.

In May, passenger car sales plunged by 28% to 7,895 from 10,967 units sold in the same month in 2024. Month on month, sales went up by 21.5% from 6,498 units sold in April.

Meanwhile, sales of commercial vehicles, which accounted for 80.15% of May sales, rose by 8.8% to 31,880 from 29,304 units a year ago. Month on month, sales grew 17.7% from 27,082 units in April.

Broken down, light commercial vehicle sales went up by 9.7% year on year to 23,671 units in May, while sales of Asian utility vehicles (AUV) increased by 5.8% to 7,161.

Sales of light-duty trucks and buses went up by 19.2% to 633 units, while sales of large trucks surged 101.6% to 127. Medium truck sales dropped 22% to 288 units in May.

“Car sales in May were a bit softer compared with last year, mostly because passenger car demand slowed down,” said Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a Viber message.

“On the flip side, commercial vehicles held up well, and electric vehicles (EV) are gaining more traction. All in all, the market is still growing steadily, just with some mixed signals last month,” he added.

For the January-to-May period, new vehicle sales increased by 1.7% to 190,429 units from 187,191 units a year ago despite a slump in passenger car sales.

“Vehicle sales have been weighed down recently by reduced consumer and business sentiment as the trade war is expected to reduce global trade, investments, employment, and the world economy,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

In the first five months, passenger car sales declined by 21.4% to 38,725 from 49,247 in the same period last year.

On the other hand, commercial vehicle sales jumped by 10% to 151,704 units in the January-to-May period from 137,944 a year ago.

“We are encouraged by the industry’s sustained growth, especially with commercial vehicles driving overall performance,” CAMPI President Rommel R. Gutierrez said in a statement on Wednesday.

In May, EV sales continued to grow, now accounting for 9.08% of the industry. EV sales hit 3,613 units in May, 139.4% up from 1,509 units sold in April.

In the first five months, EV sales reached 10,433 units, accounting for 5.48% of the market.

This year, CAMPI expects EV sales to reach 10% of total car sales.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the market leader, with sales of 91,652 units in the January-to-May period, up 6.3% from the 86,257 units a year ago. It accounted for 48.13% of the market.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. ranked second with a market share of 19.23% after posting a 4.2% increase in sales to 36,613 units.

In third spot was Nissan Philippines, Inc., even as sales dropped by 14.5% to 9,879. It had a market share of 5.19%.

Rounding out the top five were Suzuki Phils., Inc., which saw an 11.8% increase in sales to 8,913 units, and Ford Motor Co. Phils., Inc., which saw a 30.1% decline to 8,559 units.

For EVs, Toyota sold 7,012 hybrid electric vehicles in the first five months of the year, while Tesla Motors Philippines sold 1,001 units of battery electric vehicles.

“With strong momentum heading into the second half of the year, CAMPI remains confident in the automotive industry’s positive performance. Continued collaboration between government and industry stakeholders will be key to sustaining this growth,” Mr. Gutierrez said.

For this year, CAMPI has set a sales target of 500,000 units. Last year, the industry sold 467,252 units.