April vehicle sales down 6.7% to 42,177 units

KUALA LUMPUR: Stricter hire purchase loan approvals and cautious consumer sentiment continued to weigh down April vehicle sales, which saw only 42,177 units.

The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said on Monday the total industry vehicles sold in April were down 6.7% from the 45,187 units a year ago and it expects the sales volume to remain the same in May.

“Sales volume in April 2016 was 13.6% or 6,611 units lower than March 2016,” it said.

Of the 42,177 units sold, the MAA said 37,893 were passenger vehilces and 4,284 were commercial vehicles.

For the January-April period, total industry vehicle sales fell 19% to 173,432 from 213,566 units in the previous corresponding period. 

The Goods and Service Tax came into effect on April 1, 2015 which saw customers buying ahead of the tax coming into effect last year.

Of the 173,432 units sold during the period, the MAA said 155,254 were passenger vehicles and the remaining 18,178 units were commercial vehicles.

The MAA data also showed manufacturers scaled back their output in April, with production falling 27.3% to 44,794 units from 61,634 units a year ago. Of the total production in April, passenger vehicles totalled 41,075 units and the remaining 3,719 were commercial vehicles.

From January to April, production fell 22.6% to 174,385 units from 225,331 a year ago.