Chinese brands seen indirectly competing with luxury cars

LUXURY CAR sales dropped 8% in October amid changing consumer preferences and increasing competition from Chinese brands, Mercedes-Benz Philippines said.

General Manager Maricar Parco said the luxury segment had sustained double-digit since the start of the year.

“In the last two months, the luxury segment has been very challenging,” she said on the sidelines of the launch of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc.’s (CAMPI) 30^th Anniversary Coffee Table Book on Friday.

“I believe it is primarily (because) the market is changing. We have more choice. The competitive landscape is much, much wider now, so consumers also take a little bit of time to choose. Obviously, the Chinese brands have been disruptive because of the pricing,” she added.

She said that the luxury brands hope to see a recovery in the last two months of the year aided by aggressive promotions.

“We hope in the last two months we will be able to finish strong. We have to have very aggressive offers now for the entire industry to support this because the market is soft,” she said.

“I believe because of the current environment, spending on luxury items is not really a priority,” she added.

Asked if the demand has been impacted by the corruption scandal, she said, “Yes, but I would also like to say that the majority of our customers are respectable people.”

She also said that as some buyers register the cars under a company name, sellers do not have a clear-cut way to know who is buying the cars.

“Most of our customers are repeat customers, people that we have been serving for generations, actually,” she added.

The luxury segment includes brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, Ferrari, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, and Land Rover.

“We are very small; we are less than 1% now of the total industry,” she said.

Overall, CAMPI President Rommel R. Gutierrez said the industry is still on track to hit 500,000 units in sales by year’s end amid growing demand for electrified vehicles and stronger demand for vehicles during the Christmas season.

“We are confident,” he told reporters on Friday. “I think we can still reach 500,000.”

At the end of October, CAMPI and the Truck Manufacturers Association reported total industry sales of 383,424 units, 0.2% behind the year-earlier pace.

Passenger car sales fell 23.2% to 77,461 units in the first 10 months.

Meanwhile, sales of commercial vehicles, which account for almost 80% of the market by volume, grew 7.9% to 305,963 units in the first 10 months. — Justine Irish D. Tabile