National cars maintain lead

Strong demand: Proton says 15,175 units of its X70 have been delivered in the first half of the year.

National carmakers Proton and Perodua dominate sales over their foreign counterparts in the first half of this year as more customers traded their cars for more competitively-priced sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) despite the uncertain economic conditions.

According to data by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA), Perodua sales rose 4% to 121,782 units in the first half of 2019 compared with the first six months of 2018, while Proton registered a 60% surge in sales to 43,518 units during the same period.