MANILA – An industry group said on Tuesday sales of imported vehicles in the country have recovered for the first four months of the year compared to 2020 sales when Luzon was under stringent community quarantine.
The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) reported that sales of imported vehicles from January to April this year rose by 40 percent to 20,353 units from 14,572 units in the same period a year ago.
Sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles both increased by double-digit at 16 percent and 44 percent, respectively.
Total passenger cars sold in the January to April period reached 5,328 units this year from 4,574 units in 2020.
Light commercial vehicles sold 14,314 units this year from 9,906 units last year.
For April alone, the industry group’s sales reached 4,496 units.
Of the said number, 1,087 units were passenger cars, 3,116 units were light commercial vehicles, and 293 units were commercial vehicles.
“They say you cannot emerge from challenging times untransformed. With these encouraging figures, I say we at AVID have boldly transformed ourselves and have become even better at what we do, which is to provide our customers an end-to-end mobility experience that best suits the needs of the times,” AVID president Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo said.
On the other hand, the impact of provisional safeguard measures on imported vehicles and the reimposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and the modified ECQ in Metro Manila and four nearby provinces were seen in the month-on-month performance of the industry.
AVID’s total sales in April 2021 compared to its previous month declined by 13 percent.
Passenger car segment sales dipped by 21 percent, while light commercial vehicle sales decreased by 15 percent. (PNA)
