March 2017 Car Sales - Upward Trend Continues

Malaysia's automotive industry continues to see the upward trend going strong, as March 2017 have charted more vehicles sold than the past two months.

For March, the total industry volume (TIV) was recorded at 53,717 units, a healthy 11,262 or 26.5% increase over February. Even when comparing on a YoY basis, sales for March 2017 saw a slight 7.3% improvement, or an increase of 9,588 units, bringing the year-to-date TIV to to 140,839. 

Honda Malaysia continues to top Malaysia's non-national car sales, with 10,994 units sold. This figure is a strong 42.9% increase from the month before. To date, Honda Malaysia has sold 27,283 units. As of March 2017, Honda Malaysia has saw more than 10,650 bookings for the BR-V, with 6,800 units registered. The recently-facelifted Honda City has recorded bookings close to 4,500 units, with registrations close to 3,000 units. 

With 19,459 units sold in March 2017, Perodua remains as the nation's number one car manufacturer. The company saw an increase of 2,856 units or 17.2% versus February 2017. At the moment, Perodua has a market share of 35.9% with 47,200 vehicles registered. “The increasing in number of sales is due to the introduction of the new Axia facelift and also due to aggressive promotions for other Perodua models,” said President & CEO Datuk (Dr) Aminar Rashid Salleh.

Toyota also recorded a growth of 36% in March 2017, with 6,162 units sold. Despite having a commercial vehicle range, Toyota's lack of a strong crossover lineup meant that sales performance continues to fall behind Honda. On top of that, the ageing Shah Alam plant is limiting Toyota's output capacity, which is set to be remedied when their new production plant opens in 2019.

The premium car segment also continues to see encouraging growth. Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW and Volvo all saw good growth in March. Mercedes-Benz Malaysia recently introduced the locally-assembled W213 E-Class whilst BMW Malaysia launched the seventh-generation 5 Series, both of which are expected to drive sales figures upwards in the coming months. Volvo Malaysia's line up was also refreshed with the introduction of the S90 and V90.