PH vehicle output contracted 7.2% in Nov ’24

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s vehicle production declined in November last year by 7.2 percent, falling by nearly 700 units even as local dealerships continued to rack up solid sales numbers.

Data from the Asean Automotive Federation (AAF), an umbrella group of industry associations from member-economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), showed output had dropped to 8,772 units from 9,455 units during the same month in 2023.

Monthly sales of vehicles had been growing nonstop in the Philippines throughout the year, with purchases going up by 4.9 percent to 40,004 units in October and by 8.5 percent to 40,898 units in November.

READ: PH remains heavily reliant on imported vehicles

Despite the November decline attributed partly to depressed demand in other countries in the economic bloc, the country’s combined output from January to November managed to grow by 14.7 percent to 116,650 units from 101,707 units.

Among six Asean countries with vehicle manufacturing hubs, the Philippines was among the four economies which saw output contract.

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Thailand, the biggest producer with an output of 117,251 units during the month, suffered a 28.2-percent decline, continuing a 11-month nonstop decline in the double digits.

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The six Asean economies produced a total of 318,575 units in November, which is 15.2 percent lower than the 375,589 units recorded in November 2023.

From January to November, 3.47 million units were produced by these countries, which is 12.7 percent lower compared with the 3.976 million manufactured in the same time frame in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Philippines’ production of motorcycles and scooters grew 4.3 percent in the same month as production went up to 112,216 units from 107,564 units.

This brought the country’s production of these two-wheeled vehicles from January to November 2024 to 1.25 million, an 8.6-percent growth from the 1.154 million units it produced a year ago. INQ