Toyota Sees Higher Sales, Welcomes Competition

Toyota Motor Philippines is confident that the Philippine automotive market will continue to grow this year despite the current tariff turmoil and the entry of more competitors.

- MARIANNE GO

According to Jing Atienza, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Philippines, the leading Philippine car maker is still confident of continued sales growth despite the recent dip in industry-wide car sales in the first four months of this year.

A double-digit decline of 19.5 percent was recorded in passenger car sales for the first four months of the year, even as overall automotive vehicle sales for the same period registered a slight uptick of 2.5 percent, with commercial vehicles helping to pull up total automotive sales.

Atienza, in an interview, remains optimistic. "We're still very positive about the market. Of course, April was at a dip; it's because of fewer working days, the elections, so it was very much expected."

However, he pointed out, "Historically, we saw that after such a dip in April—the Holy Week and the (local) election—there's a good increase afterward. So we think that the trend, coming from two years ago until now, will continue."

The Toyota EVP is not perturbed either by the entry of new car brands. In fact, he confidently believes that "It's good also that a lot of brands are coming in. It is very much welcome. And as always, the more brands that come in, the more the focus on the industry is better. So generally, for us, we're still quite positive about the market. For Toyota, our stance is, 'what's good for the market is good for Toyota,' and the more brands coming in, then it's good for the industry."