TOYOTA Motor Philippines Corp. (TMPC) eyes selling 155,000 units this year to maintain its 43-percent market share throughout the year.
Satoru Suzuki, TMPC president, said the target, raised from a more modest 150,000 target revealed at the start of the year, can be credited to the proliferation of entry-level models, coupled with the continuing rise in consumer power.
The 155,000-unit target would make TMPC’s share to be still at 43 percent of the predicted 360,000 sales volume for the entire industry for 2016. This figure is an improvement of 11 percent from 2015’s actual sales of 323,000 units.
This total industry target is unchanged, TMPC First Vice President Rommel Gutierrez said during Monday’s launch of Toyota’s upgraded Vios and Yaris.
“We’re really tapping into the needs of the market—we’re providing more models for first-time buyers,” TMPC Vice Chairman Alfred Ty told reporters.
This conservative target would be in line with Toyota’s continued growth trend so far in the year.
As of July, TMPC has sold 86,150 units, a 43.6-percent share of total assemblers’ sales of 197,448 year-to-date.
Suzuki said that, as of August, it has locally produced 30,000 units, signalling an 11-percent improvement on its production level from the same month last year.
Gutierrez said Toyota’s plant capacity is almost fully utilized with annual production at 50,000—60 percent of which is of its volume-seller, the Vios. The remaining 30 percent is taken up by Innova.
The TMPC executive said capacity expansion will gradually be increased as it rolls out its investment in compliance with its participation to the government’s manufacturing stimulus initiative, the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program.
The No. 1 car brand in the Philippines recently celebrated 28 years in the country this month.
Ty said he sees TMPC’s growth to be sustainable, especially in light of its foreseen ramping up of production in 2018, to participate in CARS.
“In relation to our Asean neighbors, we are the No. 3 market [for Toyota]. With our population, the potential is far greater. With the volume [under CARS], manufacturing becomes more efficient, cost becomes more competitive and that creates a lot of opportunities for us,” he said.
Toyota hit a sales target of 125,000 units in 2015, representing a 43.3-percent share of the auto sales of local assemblers last year, pegged at 288,600.
This was also 38.3 percent of total industry sales, including that of importers, of 323,000 units last year.