If you’ve been following the news (apart from the extra-judicial killings and arrests made), you may have already heard about the automotive sector’s record numbers in 2016. Combined reports from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc (CAMPI), Truck Manufacturers Association, (TMA), and Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) revealed that total industry sales exceeded the 400,000 mark—way above the 370,000 set fo the year.
Apart from this stellar growth, manufacturing has likewise been on an upswing. This is helped in part by the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Comprehensive National Industry Strategy, which focuses on key manufacturing sectors like electronics, aerospace, automotive, shipbuilding, and tool and die, to help them reach new heights.
Moreover, the DTI is beefing up its National Logistics Master Plan to aid the faster and smoother movement of goods and services in and around the archipelago.
All three factors are helping the country achieve new economic growth levels. The recent 6.6% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is just the beginning, analysts predict. GDP is forecast to average 6% until around 2019.
With all these in place, the transportation and logistics sectors are the key beneficiaries of this robust performance. Out of the more than 400,000 vehicles old in 2016, 245,432 commercial vehicles rolled out of dealer lots—translating to a hefty 60.7% market share. This will greatly help transport people and cargo across the country’s 7,100 islands.
And with major infrastructure and transport projects in the pipeline, such as more airports, seaports, railways, and highways, it would be much easier to move around in a seamless manner.
One proof of this economic growth is Centro Manufacturing Corporation, leading truck body manufacturer. Being in the business for decades has helped it weather the various economic storms our country has experienced. And now that things are looking up, Centro is likewise set to ride the wave and deliver new products and services that will greatly help the transport of goods and people.
Of course, there are factors that could dampen all this—such as the proposed excise tax on Motor Vehicles. But that’s another story for anther day. But with Centro’s help, we sure hope that things will go nowhere but up.
