Upgraded offerings: People examine vehicles on display at an auto show in Kuala Lumpur. Big Japanese brands recently launched new versions of popular cars in Malaysia.
KUALA LUMPUR: Total vehicle sales are expected to remain strong for the remainder of the year, supported by robust order backlogs, healthy booking trends, new model launches and facelifts to current models in the market.
AmInvestment Bank Research in a report said model debuts include the all-new Honda City and Toyota Corolla GR Sport, along with updated models that are anticipated to support sales volume over the coming months.
“Also, our view is supported by steady employment and firm 2023-to-2024 gross domestic product growth projection of 4% to 4.5%, which will continue to support resilient domestic spending,” the research house said in a report yesterday.
Citing statistics by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA), AmInvestment Bank said total industry volume (TIV) for last month increased 12.7% month-on-month (m-o-m) to 71,745 units, as sales volume of passenger cars grew by 12% m-o-m to 64,633 units.
Meanwhile, the commercial segment rose 24% m-o-m to 7,112 units.
“The growth was attributable to the National Day promotional campaign and improved automotive supply chain ecosystem. On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, TIV increased 6.2%, mainly supported by the growth of Mazda (37%), Perodua (20%) and Toyota/Lexus (13%).
“This was partly dragged down by sales of Nissan/Renault, which plunged 26% y-o-y.”
The research house added that the strong sector performance in August resulted in TIV year-to-date sales of 498,842 (11% y-o-y), which is on course to reach its 2023 TIV target of 650,000 units.
Commenting on the performance of the individual marques, AmInvestment said Perodua’s cumulative market share grew to 40.9% with year-to-date sales of 204,232 units in August.
“This improvement indicates a 65% achievement of its 314,000 units 2023 sales target and is on track to achieve our forecast of 300,000 units. In August, Perodua recorded a sale of 311,111 units.
“We believe that sales of affordable car models such as Axia, Myvi, Bezza, Alza and Ativa will continue to drive monthly sales volume growth going forward.”
The research house added that Proton’s cumulative market share increased two percentage points to 20.6% with 13,693 units sold in August.
“This indicated a 5% m-o-m growth, but an 8% y-o-y decline on a yearly basis. Proton has begun exports of its X90, with the sports utility vehicle making its debut last month in three export markets – Mauritius, South Africa and Brunei.”
On the non-national side, the research house said year-to-date market share for Toyota dropped by 0.2 percentage points y-o-y to 13.5% despite improved year-to-date sales of 67,283 units.
AmInvestment Bank Research said 10,275 units were sold in August, which will continue to be supported by facelifts of current models and the launch of new models.
“Recently, the Toyota Yaris, Malaysia’s top-selling foreign-made B-segment hatchback underwent a considerable upgrade to strengthen its lead in the highly competitive market.”
Separately, the research house said 1,880 Mazda cars were sold during the month, which contributed to the slight growth of the brand’s market share to 2.6%.
