Sparse car parts cut into vehicle sales

Just when domestic vehicle sales picked up speed during the first quarter, there’s a speed bump ahead fast approaching – automotive spare supplies are running out because of the disasters that hit Japan in March. “Understandably, the effects of the tragedy are being felt as assembly plants scale down operations due to the lack of parts supply. As expected, the lack of parts supply affected production. Although some key parts suppliers’ plants have resumed operations, they have yet to operate at normal levels," said Elizabeth Lee, president of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI). The Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) and CAMPI released on Monday their joint sales report, showing that 48,109 vehicles were sold from January to April this year – 4.8 percent more than sales of during the same four-month period in 2010. CAMPI’s president cited “unavailability of stocks for some models" as the reason why April sales slowed down by 14.2 percent to 11,816 units as compared to March with 13,775 units sold – even as passenger cars sales at end-April had actually risen 8.9 percent from the start of the year. She was quick to add, however, that this “may be revised accordingly as we move forward in the coming month with greater visibility on the extent of the damage and its lingering effect on local operations," pointing out that industry sales growth remained within the forecasted range of 4 to 5 percent. “Demand will continue to outpace supply temporarily as plants try to ramp up operations to higher levels at the soonest time possible. Currently, players continue to serve demand based on inventories on hand," she said. Cautious optimism “We continue to be cautiously optimistic. The scale and magnitude of the tragedy that rocked Japan was a shock to all," Lee said. “We continue to monitor the situation as we work with our principals on temporary solutions to help mitigate the impact and shorten the gap so operations can scale up to normal levels at the soonest time possible," she said. She said “prices continue to hold" but could be affected by other factors like inflation and foreign exchange movements. “Fortunately, inflation is still within a manageable range and the strong yen is somewhat being tempered by a relatively strong peso," she said. Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. sold the most number of vehicles in the first quarter of 2011 with 18,440 units; followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. with 10,945 units; and Honda Cars Philippines Inc. with 4,823 units. Hyundai Asia Resources Inc., which is not a member of CAMPI, also released its own sales report on Monday, putting its sales at 6,419 vehicles as of end-April. —MRT/KBK, GMA News