Welcome to the year 2000, where everyone survived the Y2K bug, where the common phone is the 3310, and Facebook hadn't been invented yet. So, I saw this article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer and they revealed the top selling cars of the millennium year (per category). Not all car companies such as GM Automobiles (Opel, Chevrolet) are members of CAMPI, which do not report sales figures. Let us now go to a trip down memory lane.
AUVS
That category alone was the hottest segment in the market with most of them buying as a dual purpose vehicle which they use for family and business purposes. Seen here is the Revo, which incidentally is the best selling car in the country, for the second time around. Playing catch-up is the Adventure and Hilander while the old body Tamaraw FX managed to sell 950 units (probably to shuttle operators).
AUVS
That category alone was the hottest segment in the market with most of them buying as a dual purpose vehicle which they use for family and business purposes. Seen here is the Revo, which incidentally is the best selling car in the country, for the second time around. Playing catch-up is the Adventure and Hilander while the old body Tamaraw FX managed to sell 950 units (probably to shuttle operators).
Toyota Revo
Units Sold: 11,818
Units Sold in 1999: 11,317
Difference between 1999: 4%
Mitsubishi Adventure
Units Sold: 6,824
Units Sold in 1999: 4,709
Difference between 1999: 45%
Isuzu Hilander
Units Sold: 4,303
Units Sold in 1999: 2,521
Difference between 1999: 71%
Toyota Tamaraw FX
Units Sold: 953
Units Sold in 1999: 1,038
Difference between 1999: -8%
Sub-Compacts and Compacts
The second most popular category, and the number one in this segment is the Honda Civic, which held against modern rivals and its swan song as it was to be replaced for 2001. Other best sellers include its smaller brother City, Nissan Sentra Exalta, and the Toyota Corolla.Honda Civic
Units Sold: 5,456
Units Sold in 1999: 6,827
Units Sold in 1999: 6,827
Difference between 1999: -20%
Toyota Corolla
Units Sold: 5,349
Units Sold in 1999: 5,548
Difference between 1999: -4%
Nissan Sentra
Units Sold: 4,853
Units Sold in 1999: 3,348
Difference between 1999: 45%
Honda City
Units Sold: 3,391
Units Sold in 1999: 2,443
Difference between 1999: 39%
Premium sedans
Ok, I would be renaming it from midsize since most of the cars categorized are sold in the region of a million pesos. During this period, Nissan's Cefiro was a favorite followed by the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
Nissan Cefiro
Units Sold: 686
Units Sold in 1999: 569
Difference between 1999: 21%
Honda Accord
Units Sold: 610
Units Sold in 1999: 770
Difference between 1999: -21%
Toyota Camry
Units Sold: 338
Luxury sedans
And you'll be here for a shocker, the best selling luxury car is from the land of ABBA. Volvo's S80 was the reason (they sold 112 of them) to be the market leader. BMW and Mercedes Benz were the follow up players in a rather discerning category.
*Pictures show the best seller per brand
Volvo
Units Sold: 225 (112 are S80's, 113 are split of other models)
Difference Between 1999: 40%
BMW
Units Sold: 158
Difference Between 1999: -56%
Mercedes Benz
Units Sold: 155
Difference Between 1999: 474%
Vans
This one is a rather silent category, but a smattering piece of vans that have different sizes and target markets are clamped together. The Hyundai Starex would have been the sure winner but with its grey market status, it is not counted here, thus the honor goes to the Toyota Hiace. Next to it are the Kia vans (Besta, Carnival, Pregio) and Mitsubishi vans (L300 and Spacegear) in the list.
Toyota Hiace
Units Sold: 3,076
Units Sold in 1999: 2,245
Difference between 1999: 37%
Kia Besta/Carnival/Pregio (combined)
Units Sold: 1,333
Mitsubishi L300/Spacegear (combined)
Units Sold: 1,041
Pick-ups
The Inquirer article lists them separately (4x2 and 4x4), so we will have them combined here if there is data available for both. Overall, the favorite back then is the Nissan Frontier with other sellers from Isuzu, Mitsubishi, and Ford. Toyota's Hilux is a floater here, but became a favorite later on.
Nissan Frontier
Units Sold: 2,326 (combined 4x2 and 4x4)
Isuzu Fuego
Units Sold: 2,014 (4x2 figures)
Ford F-150 and Ranger (combined sales, Explorer Sport Trac not counted)
Units Sold: 1,718 (combined 4x2 and 4x4)
Mitsubishi L200 Strada
Units Sold: 1,130
SUVs
Among the few competitors back then, SUVs are crammed into one category regardless of size and price. Despite the influx of new competitors, the small Honda CR-V became the favorite of Filipino buyers despite an expensive price tag. Other favorites include the *surprise* Ford Expedition (probably Brother Luistro's unit was counted) and the Mitsubishi Pajero.
Honda CR-V
Units Sold: 2,894
Units Sold in 1999: 2,947
Difference between 1999: -2%
Ford Expedition
Units Sold: 1,757
Units Sold in 1999: 558
Difference between 1999: 215%
Mitsubishi Pajero
Units Sold: 1,256
Units Sold in 1999: 2,264
Difference between 1999: -45%
Sources:
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