New vehicle sales in Malaysia fell 19% to 46,583 units in April 2023 from 56,213 units a year earlier and by 41% month on month, according to registration data released by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).
Last month’s sharp market decline followed the 31 March cut off date for deliveries of passenger vehicles bought tax free last year under the government’s Covid recovery programme. There were also fewer working days in April compared with last year due to the annual Eid holidays.
In the first four months of the year, the vehicle market was still up by 10% at 239,183 units from 217,452 units in the same period of last year, with passenger vehicle sales rising by 11% to 213,344 units while commercial vehicle sales were just slightly higher at 25,839 units.
Market leader Perodua has not released its April sales data so far, in the wake of the rigged crash test scandal at its key shareholder Daihatsu Motor in Japan. Malaysia’s largest automaker last reported a 27% sales rise to 78,564 units in the first quarter of the year, driven by popular models such as the Bezza, Axia and the recently launched Alza.
While the Malaysian Institute for Road Safety Research (Miros) said it will assess the latest generation Axia model, Perodua said it does not expect any significant local fall out from the scandal. The company previously said it is targeting 314,000 local vehicle sales this year and output of 330,000 units.
Proton YTD global sales rebounded 40% to 49,702 units from weak year earlier volume, including 603 exports. The Saga was its best selling model YTD with 21,395 sales, followed by the Geely based X50 compact SUV with 12,312 units. The company launched its first hybrid model earlier this month, the also Geely based X90 SUV, and said it plans to launch one new energy vehicle (NEV) model per year to help strengthen its sales.
UMW Toyota reported a 9% sales increase to 31,900 units year to date, lifted by the introduction of new models and new variants of exiting models including the new Vios compact sedan in March. The company plans to launch a second hybrid model in additional to its Corolla Cross and possibly a new BEV later this year.
The MAA expects the country’s vehicle market to decline by 10% to 650,000 units in 2023 after sales surged 42% to a new record high of 720,658 units last year, reflecting slowing economic growth and rising interest rates.
