As woes of inflation such as high oil prices, increased cost of goods and services, and interest rate hikes plague the country, the automotive industry is not spared as the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) reports a slowdown in sales for the first three quarters of the year.
From 75,949 units sold during the same period last year, the first three quarters of 2018 saw only 65,917 leave showroom floors. This equates to a 13 percent year-to-date decline. As for Q3 20118 volume, this was pegged at 22,774 units—an 18 percent drop from last year’s Q3 figure of 27,605 vehicles.
When it comes to segments, the Passenger Car class slowed down by some 20 percent year-to-date with 23,531 cars sold. Quarter 3 saw only 7,350 cars, down 30 percent. Hyundai led the charge for this segment. It was the Light Commercial Vehicle segment, owever, that got the larger slice of the proverbial pie. Accounting for some 63 percent of total AVID sales, Ford led the way to bring total LCV sales for the first 9 months of the year to 41,808 units. This is still down by 11 percent compared to last year, though.
Yet AVID remains optimistic that it will weather the storm, hoping to experience renewed growth in the coming months.
