Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors

Also known as: AVID · Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc. · AVID Philippines

Definition

The Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) is the Philippine automotive industry association of companies that import and distribute completely built-up (CBU) vehicles, formed in July 2010 when non-voting associate members of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI), led by then Hyundai distributor Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI), broke away to form their own group. The founding members acted to protect importer interests amid fear that the Motor Vehicle Development Program under Executive Order No. 877-A would discriminate against CBU importers in Board of Investments consultations. AVID is headed by HARI chief executive Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo and describes itself as the voice of Philippine vehicle importers. (Inquirer Business — Why there are two big auto shows in PH, CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers)

The association’s most regular public function is the publication of monthly and annual sales reports covering its member companies’ passenger cars and light commercial vehicles — figures such as the 87,984 units reported for 2019 and 58,916 units for 2021 — which are published alongside, and separately from, the joint CAMPI–TMA reports. As of late 2022 AVID grouped nineteen brands under twelve distributor companies, including BYD, Chevrolet, Subaru, Volvo, Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Aston Martin, and Hyundai Trucks & Buses; its roster has since contracted as several marques migrated to CAMPI. (BusinessWorld — AVID sales up 12% in Dec., but 2019 still dips 0.5%, BusinessMirror — AVID: Importers of vehicles post double-digit sales hike)

Identities

Source Type	Identity
Wikipedia	N/A
Wikidata	N/A
DBpedia	N/A
ProductOntology	N/A
Wiktionary	N/A
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)	Automobile industry and trade — Philippines
MeSH	N/A
NCBI Taxonomy	N/A
AGROVOC	N/A
Google Scholar	vehicle imports Philippines automotive industry policy
ConceptNet	N/A
OpenCyc	N/A

Also Known As

AVID
Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, Inc.
AVID Philippines

Examples and Analogies

Chamber for the importing side: if CAMPI historically spoke for companies with assembly plants, AVID is the importers’ counter-chamber — organized in 2010 so that firms selling shipped-in vehicles would have their own seat in policy debates. (Inquirer Business — Why there are two big auto shows in PH)
Birthed by a policy scare: the association’s origin resembles a union formed during a wage dispute — HARI and fellow non-voting CAMPI associates walked out in July 2010 when they felt excluded from consultations on rules they believed would favor local assemblers. (Inquirer Business — Why there are two big auto shows in PH)
Half of the market’s pie chart: AVID’s sales reports work like the second slice of a two-part market survey — the joint CAMPI–TMA figures show one set of brands, AVID’s show another, and only together do they approximate the national total. (BusinessWorld — AVID sales up 12% in Dec., but 2019 still dips 0.5%)
A revolving-door club: membership has behaved like a revolving door, with anchor brands — Hyundai first, later Ford and Suzuki — departing for CAMPI as their distribution arrangements changed, while new marques such as BYD entered through AVID. (Inquirer Mobility — Hyundai shifts from AVID to CAMPI, CarGuide.PH — CAMPI celebrates 30th anniversary)

Usage Scenarios

1. Monthly and Annual Sales Reporting

AVID members consolidate their vehicle sales each month — split between passenger cars and light commercial vehicles — and release the totals as the importers’ counterpart to the CAMPI–TMA figures, giving the market a view of brands outside the manufacturers’ group. (BusinessWorld — AVID sales up 12% in Dec., but 2019 still dips 0.5%, BusinessMirror — AVID: Importers of vehicles post double-digit sales hike)

2. Advocacy for Importer Interests

The association represents CBU importers in policy discussions where incentives, tariffs, and programs are designed, guarding against rules that would privilege local assembly over imported vehicles — the very concern that led to its founding. (Inquirer Business — Why there are two big auto shows in PH)

3. Industry Fora and Landscape Briefings

AVID convenes its members for industry meetings and its Landscape Industry Forum, featuring market-research and government speakers — including Department of Energy officials presenting the electric-vehicle industry roadmap — to brief distributors on trends. (CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers)

4. Platform Entry for New Brands

New-market entrants that distribute imported vehicles have used AVID as their industry home — the association’s late-2022 roster spanned mass-market marques like Chevrolet and Subaru, luxury names like Bentley and Rolls-Royce, and the then-emerging EV brand BYD. (CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers)

5. Navigating Distribution Transitions

When a global carmaker changes its Philippine distribution model — as Hyundai did in 2022 when the passenger-vehicle business moved from HARI to Hyundai Motor Philippines — the association manages the consequences for its membership, which in that case retained only Hyundai Trucks & Buses. (Inquirer Mobility — Hyundai shifts from AVID to CAMPI)

Strategies

Distinct statistical identity: publishing its own sales reports keeps AVID visible in market coverage and prevents importer volumes from being folded into — and obscured by — the assemblers’ numbers. (BusinessWorld — AVID sales up 12% in Dec., but 2019 still dips 0.5%)
Positioning as the importers’ voice: by framing itself as “the true and relevant voice of Philippine auto importers,” the association stakes a claim to represent the import channel of the market in policy conversations. (CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers)
Anchor-member leadership: with HARI’s chief executive as president, AVID historically aligned its leadership with its largest member, projecting continuity even as the roster changed. (CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers, Inquirer Business — Why there are two big auto shows in PH)
Portfolio breadth: spanning mass-market, luxury, and commercial brands gives the association a claim to speak for a wide cross-section of the import business despite its smaller unit volumes. (CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers)
Adaptation after defections: after losing anchor brands to CAMPI, the group publicly reaffirmed its continuity and repositioned itself around future-facing segments such as electrification. (CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers)

Security and Safety Measures

Member-sourced sales data: AVID’s market figures are consolidated from member companies’ submissions, keeping its public statistics anchored to distributor records. (BusinessMirror — AVID: Importers of vehicles post double-digit sales hike)
Formal industry dialogue: engaging government — such as Department of Energy briefings on the EV roadmap — through structured fora keeps the association’s advocacy in official channels. (CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers)
Collective representation of regulated commerce: as importers of motor vehicles, members operate within the state’s vehicle standards, registration, and importation regime; the association’s advocacy supplements, rather than substitutes for, each company’s regulatory compliance. (Inquirer Business — Why there are two big auto shows in PH)
Institutional continuity mechanisms: after the 2022 departures, the association used public statements and member meetings to stabilize itself, limiting the reputational damage of defection rumors. (CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers)

Historical Context

AVID was formed in July 2010 when the non-voting associate members of CAMPI — led by Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc., then the Philippine distributor of Hyundai vehicles — walked out of the chamber. The immediate trigger was policy: importers feared the Motor Vehicle Development Program under Executive Order No. 877-A would favor locally assembling manufacturers, and they resented exclusion from Board of Investments consultations on the implementing rules. Under the founding presidency of HARI chief executive Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, the new group built its own rhythm of monthly sales reporting and industry fora, and its members anchored the rival Manila International Auto Show presence while CAMPI ran the Philippine International Motor Show. (Inquirer Business — Why there are two big auto shows in PH)

The 2010s saw AVID report steadily — 87,984 units in 2019, then pandemic-depressed figures, then 58,916 units in 2021 — while its composition tracked the global industry’s channel strategies. Hyundai’s 2022 shift of its passenger-vehicle business from HARI to a new Hyundai Motor Philippines, which then applied for CAMPI membership, removed the association’s historical anchor; Geely likewise departed; and by 2025 Ford and Suzuki appeared in CAMPI’s associate roster. The group nonetheless continued, holding member meetings and its Landscape Industry Forum with government speakers, and reaffirming its role as the importers’ voice. (BusinessWorld — AVID sales up 12% in Dec., but 2019 still dips 0.5%, BusinessMirror — AVID: Importers of vehicles post double-digit sales hike, Inquirer Mobility — Hyundai shifts from AVID to CAMPI, CarGuide.PH — CAMPI celebrates 30th anniversary)

Challenges and Controversies

Sales-Data Turf Between Industry Associations

Since 2010 the Philippine market’s official statistics have been split between the joint CAMPI–TMA reports and AVID’s own releases, so no association publishes the whole market and analysts must assemble totals themselves. The division — born of a governance walkout rather than a statistical design — periodically flares when brands change camps, as Hyundai’s numbers moved from AVID’s reporting to CAMPI’s in 2022, distorting both series’ continuity. (Inquirer Business — Why there are two big auto shows in PH, Inquirer Mobility — Hyundai shifts from AVID to CAMPI)

Shrinking Membership and the CAMPI Gravitational Pull

AVID’s roster has contracted as distributorships consolidated or shifted allegiance: Hyundai, Geely, and later Ford and Suzuki all ended up on the manufacturers’ side of the fence. The pattern raises the structural question of whether a separate importers’ association remains necessary when CAMPI itself now houses large import-only associate members — a debate sharpened by rumors, which the group publicly rebutted in 2022, of its impending demise. (Inquirer Mobility — Hyundai shifts from AVID to CAMPI, CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers, CarGuide.PH — CAMPI celebrates 30th anniversary)

Importers Versus the Local-Assembly Policy Bias

The founding grievance — that government programs favor local assembly over CBU importation — has persisted through successive industrial policies, from the Motor Vehicle Development Program to the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy, whose incentives are reserved for local production. As the government weighs EV-industry support, AVID members’ import-dependent business models sit on the opposite side of a recurring policy debate about whether the Philippines should assemble vehicles or simply import them. (Inquirer Business — Why there are two big auto shows in PH, CarGuide.PH — The Association of Vehicle Importers)