With two more months to go, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Incorporated and the Truck Manufacturers Association only need to sell 174,847 in order to surpass their 2023 target of 423,000 units.

In their most recent consolidated report, CAMPI and TMA members already sold 314,843 units from January to September 2023, a 27-percent improvement compared to the same period last year when 248,154 units were sold.

So far, both CAMPI and TMA are averaging around 35,000 units a month with November and December seen as most profitable because of enticing promotions and holiday deals.

According to CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez, the increasing sales can be attributed to the promotional campaigns and new model introductions in August, adding that CAMPI and TMA recorded their highest monthly sales performance in September with 38,628 units sold.

This figure even surpassed the previous record set in May when 38,177 units were sold.

Gutierrez hopes this positive consumer outlook will be sustained in the last three months of the year.

Commercial vehicles like pickups, SUVs, and light trucks remained the best seller as CAMPI and TMA sold 234,834 units from January to September.

This made up nearly three-fourths of the entire automotive sales of the two organizations while at the same time a 24.8-percent improvement from the same period last year (188,096 units).

Sales of passenger cars also improved by 33.2 percent as CAMPI sold 80,009 units in the first nine months versus the 60,058 units sold in the same period last year.

Toyota Motor Philippines remained dominant, cornering 45.8 percent of the market or 144,232 units sold. Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation came second with 58,065 vehicles sold or an 18.4 percent market share.

Ford Motor Company Philippines is third most profitable with 23,091 units sold or a 7.33 percent market share while Nissan Philippines is at fourth, with 20,037 units delivered or a 6.36 percent market share.

Suzuki Philippines completed the top five bestselling brands in the country after delivering 13,490 vehicles or a 4.28 percent market share in the first nine months of 2023.

Gutierrez noted that the country's auto market remains resilient since 2021 and the current trend indicates that it will breach the highest pre-pandemic sales performance and achieve a full industry recovery this year.

In 2019, CAMPI and TMA sold a total of 369,941 units, a record achievement compared to the previous years.

But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, sales in 2020 dipped to 223,793 units and only slightly improved in 2021 when a total of 268,488 were sold. Last year almost matched the 2019 figures when sales hit 352,596 units.