New commercial vehicles for sale in the Philippines

Commercial vehicles (CV) are one of the backbones of any economy. People and products need to be transported to their desired destinations on a daily basis. The Philippines, as one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, is very active in purchasing commercial vehicles.

Commercial vehicles fall into the following categories: all-utility vehicles (AUVs), light commercial vehicles (LCVs), trucks, and buses. One of the top buyers of commercial vehicles is the Filipino government who use them to provide their basic services to its citizens.

dominates the commercial vehicle group with good showing from the mid size SUV and Mitsubishi Strada pickups. Meanwhile, the truck still has a good sales showing despite being an older model.

New commercial vehicle releases

The Toyota Hilux FX 2014 has been repackaged, from its original pickup model into a 15-seater passenger vehicle, to compete in the light-commercial vehicle segment. This new model costs P857,000 pesos and a unit installed with an air conditioning system costs P30,000 more.

Another people mover, the Foton Traveller, was released in late 2013 during the Chinese manufacturer's "Big Show" event. This unit costs around P1.3 million.

A new player in the nation’s auto scene- Indian auto manufacturer Tata- has announced the release of Xenon, a pickup truck commercial vehicle, together with four other car models. Their prices have yet to be released.

Commercial vehicles in the Philippines

Public transport remains the primary means of travel in the Philippines. In the cities and urban areas vans, taxi cabs, buses and jeeps are also popular means on which people travel. Modified motorcycles with sidecars called tricycles, roam sub-urban subdivisions and the countryside.

Other uses of commercial vehicles in the country include transporting perishable products from ports, farms and points of production to markets or warehouses. Non-perishable products are transported by larger vehicles like 8 to 10-wheeler trucks coming from the active Manila pier.

Many commercial vehicles undergo certain modifications, provided by local auto shops, to adapt to the demands of the public. The jeepney, the country’s most used form of transport, is a modified World War II military jeepney with extended body frame to accommodate 16-24 passengers.

Popular commercial vehicle models

The remains the prefered 4 -seater taxi cab model in the country’s capital of Metro Manila along with older models like the Toyota Corolla, Nissan Sentra and Mitsubishi Lancer. Utility Vehicle (UV) Express, another popular mass transport company use the Nissan Urvan, Mitsubishi L300 and Hyundai Grand Starex as their fleet’s base models.

Government service vehicles also have a wide assortment such as the Toyota Innova which is used by metropolitan police authorities, L200’s for a variety of municipal government duties, and the Toyota HiAce for ambulances.