MANILA - Auto sales grew by 6.9% last September compared to the same month last year. The industry association attributed this to strong light commercial vehicle sales.

In the first 9 months of the year, local dealers were able to sell 93,384 vehicles, just 30,000 vehicles short of the industry's yearend target of 125,000 units.

Year-on-year, auto sales grew 3.4%.

In an interview with ANC's Business Nightly, Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) president Elizabeth Lee said commercial vehicles (vans, compact vans, wagons, asia utility vehicles) account for 65% of total sales.

Passengers account for the remaining 35%.

"Dual purpose vehicles give more bang for the buck," explained Lee.

CAMPI said the industry is doing well considering it has had to contend with challenging conditions, including the global economic slowdown and a large influx of waterlogged and flood-damaged vehicles due to recent typhoons.

While the growth rate in local sales are almost flat, the resilience of the local industry was still notable compared to the industry performance of neighbors, such as Indonesia (-28%), Thailand (-21%), and Malaysia (8%).

Lee attributed the local automotive industry's resilience to the continuing flow of remittances from Filipinos working overseas and the financial environment.

"We did not have credit freeze here," noted Lee.

Major purchases, such as cars and houses, are fueled or constricted by the interest rate policy of the government.

Interest rates in the Philippines has been slashed at least 4 times to encourage consumers to spend.