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Philippines sees premium car sales growing

Xinhua, May 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Luxury car sales are on the rebound again, reflecting an improving economy ripe for better and more expensive spending habits, representative from the premium car segment said Tuesday.

"Outlook (for luxury cars) is still positive since the segment' s recovery last year,"said BMW Philippines president Maricar Parco.

Parco added that two years before the premium car sales were on a decline despite the booming auto industry.

"But the recovery started last year and we are continuing this year so we're very pleased about that," She said.

She cited that the company's growth during the first four months was not as fast as what the industry in general is expecting but "17 percent is a positive sign."

BMW growth at 11 percent in 2014 outpaced the industry's total growth of 9 percent.

Parco attributed the good performance to new models that were introduced in 2014 and in the first four months of 2015.

Adding to regular sales were the so-called APEC cars or BMW cars selected to serve the transportation needs of the ongoing Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation here in the Philippines being one of the mobility partners for the year-long APEC Conference.

Parco said the partnership with APEC will help the car company "cement" its leadership in the premium car segment.

She said BMW remains the top choice in the luxury car category in the Philippines followed by Lexus and then Mercedes Benz.

The company is looking at maintaining a double digit growth in 2015 hoping for at least 20 percent year-on-year growth.

She noted that the industry now is correcting itself from the downtrend in sales a few years ago.

"In the past, historically, the luxury segment grows faster than the total industry in other countries but the Philippines, it went the other way. The decline can also be credited to the publicity on the tax-payers and all that Bureau of Internal Revenue rulings on car purchase," she said.

She noted that there were clients before, who opted for more understated cars but now have the confidence to buy premium cars. Endi