Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (Hari) on Monday announced a single-digit growth in total sales for last year as compared to 2011.

Hari President and Chief Executive Officer Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo said that the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines closed 2012 with an 8-percent growth in sales, registering 21,996 units sold compared to the 20,297 units sold in 2011.

“The Philippine economy has surpassed its projected target growth for 2012 and consumer spending remains buoyant,” she said.

”With similar bullishness and optimism, we open another year, setting ambitious targets to beat last year’s sales performance,” Agudo added, saying that that for this year, Hyundai is “all set to become truly the most beloved auto brand of the Filipino.”

Hari figures showed that Hyundai’s passenger car (PC) sales grew by 25 percent growth, which translates to 13,382 units sold in 2012 compared to the 10,700 units sold in 2011.

A 9-percent increase in total sales was posted in December 2012 with 1,505 units compared to the 1,375 units sold in the same month of 2011.

Eon—the latest subcompact PC model launched in 2012—contributed sales for Hari as well, complementing the sales performance of the Elantra and the Accent which had 27 percent and 16 percent of the brand’s passenger car sales, respectively.

For Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), sales increased by 28 percent compared to December 2011, driven by aggressive promotions of the Tucson and the timely arrival of the all-new Santa Fe and the Grand Starex.

Agudo said that the economic growth in 2012 was “anticipated to settle at 6 percent, falling within the government’s target of 5 percent to 6 percent, driven by active household and government consumption combined with continued expansion in the industry and service sectors.”

”Amid global uncertainty, the country’s relatively stable macroeconomic environment should further solidify the ability of the Philippine economy to keep its growth momentum and achieve a targeted growth of 6 percent to 7 percent in 2013 and thus favor a positive outlook for the Philippine automotive industry,” she added.