National brands Perodua and Proton have seen their combined market share rise in the last few years, propped up by continued strong sales by market leader Perodua and the revival of Proton, which reached its nadir of 11% in 2018. Their combined 62.1% share of 2020’s total industry volume (TIV) is the highest since 2003.
With six out of every 10 cars sold last year being a Perodua or Proton, the slice of the pie for non-national marques is shrinking. From a high of 53% in 2014, where foreign brands overtook P1-P2 for the first time ever, the trend held firm till 2018 (51%). However, the rise of Proton in 2019-2020 ate into the non-national share, and 2020’s 38% is the lowest level for NNs since 2003 (34%).
We pointed out last week that this was not always the case. In fact, when we were covering the 2014 TIV, the breaking news back then was the non-national brands overtaking P1-P2 for the maiden time. Buoyed by an on-form Honda (2014 sales were up 50% year-on-year), foreign brands were looking up. P2 chiefs attributed the shift to market liberalisation and raised alarm back then.
Then, the national brands’ steady decline was entirely down to the poor performance of Proton, which saw sales and share slide from 2011 until the Geely era (P2’s share hovered consistently above the 30% mark for a decade beginning 2006, so it was pulling its weight). It was a time when the Japanese big three brands were aggressive in the B-segment, introducing new models with entry prices that encroached into the top end of traditional Proton/Perodua territory.
The Protons of that period – the Preve C-segment sedan, its Suprima S hatch sister, and the Myvi-fighting Iriz – didn’t put up a good fight. Here, we take a look back at the non-national models that capitalised on a weak Proton, and the rise – and subsequent fall – of Honda, Toyota and Nissan. To make it interesting, we included Mazda, which strategies and targets differ from its larger counterparts.
The Power of Dreams
In this rise and fall story, the main protagonist is Honda. One should never underestimate the power of dreams, but we’re betting that when Honda Malaysia was established in 2003, the bigwigs there never dreamt that it would one day overtake Toyota in Malaysia, never mind passing Proton to be second in the sales charts.
Honda did exactly that, pipping Toyota to the No.1 non-national spot in 2015, a position it has since held, although 2020 was a photo finish in its favour, just like in 2015. Momentum was strong, and Honda went on to do what was previously unthinkable – in 2016, it deposed Proton to be No.2 overall, a position it managed to occupy till 2018.
The climb was steep – just see the red mountain in the topmost chart. Back in 2012, Honda sold fewer cars than Nissan, and while both surged in 2013, Honda still ended the year below Nissan (51,544 vs 53,156). It was heady days for Toyota then, flirting with the 100k mark and occasionally getting the goods (105,151 in 2012 and 102,035 in 2014). But just two years after it was sparring with Nissan, Honda overhauled the big T to be the top foreign make in Malaysia.
How did that happen? Think of the fourth-generation City, which debut in March 2014, as VTEC kicking in. The sedan, which truly moved the B-segment game on, was joined by its Jazz sister hatchback in July. These new entries boosted Honda sales by 50% in 2014. The following year would be the first full year of sales for the two models, and volume jumped by a further 22%. The GM6 City went on to be the most successful generation ever, outselling its arch-rival at the end of its lifecycle.
Everyone needs a breather after a sprint, and 2016 was one for Honda, before it continued the journey to the peak. The brand’s 2017 sales of 109,511 units (19% up) wasn’t just its personal best, but the highest annual total ever for a non-national brand in Malaysia. The fact that Honda doesn’t sell pick-up trucks like the rest of its NN rivals, makes its sales feats even more impressive.
Honda started bright and early in January 2017 with the launch of the BR-V, before the hot selling City and Jazz duo were facelifted (Hybrid option added). The current-gen CR-V joined the range mid year, while 2017 was also the first full year of sales for the landmark Civic FC, which debut in mid-2016. Quite some year it was for the company.
When you consider the recent momentum swing towards national cars, Honda’s 2017 feat, or 100k sales for that matter, is unlikely to be ever repeated again by a foreign make in Malaysia.
What goes up…
Must come down. Sales in 2018 retreated slightly (6.6%) from the previous year’s high point, but were still above the 100k mark. 2019 was a troubled year for Honda, which was severely affected by product delays that were out of its control. The facelift of the very successful HR-V filled up many vacant carparks before it was finally launched, and the Civic facelift didn’t make its original 2019 launch schedule (they finally got it out in February 2020, and then MCO happened). Sales fell to the lowest point in five years (85,418).
If in the past, the Japanese were encroaching into P1/P2’s territory with entry-level offerings, the opposite is true now. Proton’s Geely-powered rejuvenation has seen it gone upmarket – the stylish X50 and X70 SUVs are direct rivals to the HR-V and CR-V, with national price perks to sweeten the deal. If not for the X models, surely many of these new Proton customers would have gone down the default SUV road, and that path leads to Honda.
You can swap out X50/X70 and HR-V/CR-V for Myvi and Jazz, too. Perodua hit the ball out of the park with the third-generation Myvi that surfaced in late 2017. Whatever the Myvi loses out in brand power and refinement to the Jazz, it makes up for it in equipment. Priced RM20k less than the base Jazz S, the top Myvi AV trounced the entry Honda in convenience (LED headlamps, touchscreen HU, digital AC) and safety kit (six vs four airbags, VSA, AEB). A lot more for a lot less – many heads were turned.
Just like low and high tides, carmakers don’t come out with winners all the time, and the good models tend to clump together like a striker’s purple patch, vice versa (think Civic FB and the fourth-gen CR-V). Sometimes, the life cycles of various models come together nicely and opponents are not at their strongest; with that ideal combo, Honda Malaysia conjured up a great team goal in 2017. One for the ages, but probably never again.
While it retained the No.1 non-national spot last year, Honda’s 60,468 units sold in 2020 was its lowest since the days that it was duelling with Nissan. Is there a way back up? Well, this year will be the first full year of sales for the latest City, and the new Jazz-replacing City Hatchback might arrive to bolster the attack, so we’ll see.
Did Toyota try hard enough?
If that sharp drop was Honda, the top non-national brand, then the sales of the others must have dived into the ground? Not really. Toyota’s pain happened in 2014-2016 and it has had the last few years to bed into a new normal. Nissan’s N17 Almera boost lasted them four years before a stepped decline began.
As you can see from the chart on top, Toyota was on a high level in the first half of the decade, even breaching 100k twice. However, since losing out to Honda in 2015, its decline was swift – 2016 sales was down by a whopping 32% to 63,757 units, and it has stayed in the 60-70k band ever since, save for 2020’s small dip (58,501 units).
Playing a major role in the fortunes of the carmakers here are their B-segment sedans. Deliver one that flies off the showroom floor and your bonus next year will be fat, generally. Get it wrong however, and your rival with the more popular B-sedan will take advantage.
Toyota didn’t get the third-generation Vios wrong per se. In fact, the XP150 – nicknamed “keli” (Malay for catfish) for the shape of its mouth/whiskers – even beat the GM6 City to the launch tape by nearly half a year when it surfaced in October 2013. The body was new, but this Vios carried over the long-serving 1NZ-FE and 4AT powertrain combo, and the 2,550 mm wheelbase.
Toyota’s bread and butter car finally received a new engine in 2016, giving the 1NZ-FE (which has been in the Vios since the nameplate was born in 2003!) a well-deserved retirement. In its place is the NR series engine shared with Perodua. In 2019, the Vios received a major overhaul, which gave it the look of a new gen. No changes under the skin, but that’s to be expected as the powertrain was updated in 2016. Another facelift was launched in December 2020.
If it sounds confusing, you’re not alone. Instead of a clear-cut generation with a facelift three/four years on – which is the default life cycle – Toyota opted for a series of running and overlapping changes. Even as the familiar Vios soldiers on with new clothes for 2021, the Honda City – which debut later than the Vios in the previous round – has moved into an all-new generation.
We’re in no position to tell Toyota that they played it wrong, but the fact that the previous-gen Honda City comfortably outsold the then newly-overhauled Vios in its final full year of sales (2019), points to the victor. It’s definitely not for the lack of marketing on Toyota’s part (the Vios had a star-studded one-make race as part of an annual nationwide roadshow), so perhaps Malaysian carbuyers wanted more from the product? What do you think?
Bear in mind that UMW Toyota Motor – with Malaysia’s relatively small volume next to giants Thailand and Indonesia – won’t have the biggest say at the ASEAN table (to put it lightly), and many things are decided en bloc, regionally.
City vs Vios aside, Honda had a big sales contributor over the past few years in shape of the HR-V. When the compact SUV arrived in 2015, it single-handedly created its own segment in Malaysia, even if B-SUVs existed before that. Toyota’s answer to the HR-V was the C-HR, a fine car and product hampered by CBU-derived price/spec issues. It made negligible impact to the overall sales cause as a result.
Another two sizeable segments that were free runs for Honda is the C-segment SUV – where the CR-V is a class stalwart (Toyota’s RAV4 finally arrived in 2020, but as an expensive CBU Japan import) – and the B-segment hatchback, where the Jazz has been a great wingman for the City. Meanwhile, the Toyota Yaris hatch has been an occasional silent visitor in pricey CBU form until 2019, when today’s CKD model was launched with competitive pricing.
Put two and two together and it appears as if Toyota handed the initiative to Honda, who then took it with both hands and ran as fast as it could.
A two-speed race
If you look at the chart, the big gap between Honda and Toyota has all but evaporated and it’s all to play for from here on. Further down, Nissan’s steady decline from the N17 Almera-induced high (2013) has seen sales drop to Mazda’s levels in 2020 (14,160 vs 12,141). It now looks like a two-speed non-national race – Honda vs Toyota for third/fourth, and Nissan vs Mazda for fifth/sixth.
That sort of volume would be quite worrying for Nissan, as Tan Chong’s business footprint in Malaysia is much larger than its 2020 sales would suggest. The long-time local partner of the Yokohama carmaker has a range of locally-assembled models and operates two factories in Malaysia. If this is the new normal volume for the brand, one wonders if it’s sustainable for TC – perhaps that’s why the company is now looking towards China for diversification.
It’s a whole story by itself, Nissan in Malaysia, but the brand’s current state is probably a combo of the principal’s product strategy for the region and the local partner’s occasional perceived hesitancy. The latter is often used as a point of criticism, but one must remember that Tan Chong is not Nissan, but essentially a customer of the principal – you’ve got to commit certain numbers to get a product at a competitive price, and if that bet doesn’t pay off, the losses are all on you as the assembler/distributor.
What about the new Almera? It looks the best of the B-segment lot (to me at least), and there’s even tech to match (downsized turbo engine, active safety kit), not something you’d say about the dumpy old model. But unfortunately, the price has also crept up (RM80k onwards), so it’s no longer the default budget option. Here’s hoping the N18 does well.
Things couldn’t be more different for Mazda and Bermaz. One of the few brands to have recorded a growth in 2020, last year’s volume is double that of a decade ago. Unlike Nissan, Mazda is largely a CBU company, with only the CX-5 and CX-8 SUVs – its volume sellers – being locally assembled for domestic and ASEAN consumption. Also different from Nissan-ETCM’s case is Mazda Motor Corp having a majority stake in the manufacturing business in Malaysia.
In urban areas and more affluent neighbourhoods, Mazdas are part of the street furniture. Many probably don’t realise this, but walk around Tokyo or Osaka and you’ll struggle to spot a Mazda – even luxury imports are more common there. I can imagine executives visiting KL from Hiroshima being in awe of the brand’s outsized presence in Malaysia.
Without the scale to CKD everything, Mazda trades on design and premium positioning – with the slice of the non-national pie expected to continue shrinking over the coming years, Mazda’s approach to life in Malaysia might do it good. With the confidence accumulated from growing the Mazda brand in Malaysia, Bermaz is now teaming up with Berjaya to repeat the trick with Peugeot.
With Honda-Toyota and Nissan-Mazda now neck-to-neck in the sales league, who will you put your money on to prevail at the end of 2021? And with Perodua’s anticipated D55L SUV coming soon, as well as the Proton X50‘s first full year of sales to account for, how much more will the non-national pie – now at 38% – shrink? It will be an interesting year ahead, that’s for sure.
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Honda, Toyota, Nissan hanya antara satu jakom menang #kitamintasatu
Toyota is No 1 in the world…Malaysia is just a small portion of the pie…not that significant anyway…
No1 in the world but cannot win n small market like Mesia showed how sucks is the brand.
how the brand sucks*
itu salah UMW, bukan Toyota. UMW can surely ask for better models to sell in malaysia.
Copy paste: ““Tan Chong is not Nissan, but essentially a customer of the principal” So Nissan MY failures are not due to ETCM but Nissan? Okay so Toyota MY failures are not by UMW Toyota but from Toyota itself. Nicely said.”
Toyota doesn’t need to be No.1 brand in Malaysia. It has already a subsidiary named Daihatsu and Perodua is the Daihatsu proxy here. So combining P2 30% market share with 10% of Toyota brand is already 40% of the TIV in Malaysia
Sounds like there are more new exciting launches coming to Malaysia. Wow
Basically the Japs took the fight to Proton and while the fun lasted a while, now Proton is laying the smackdown on these Japs. All these while Perodua continue being a tool in the lower rungs, never making the grade in the main show but making a lot of noise.
Dont dream, the Malaysia proton no more. It is Chinese Geely in disguised. As Chinese I m truly proud our ancestor land is powerful enough to influence almost every sector on earth and take it heads on on the gigantic west US and EU.
Seeing how Proton sales shoot up like rocket. DRB should not hilang maruah and sell proton to geely… rm180m is way too cheaply. Still not too late to buy back proton now,
Even Toyota now kowtow to China. Apa maruah Jepun?
“What do you think?” Toyota can kolos shop alredi. And their dupe saleman shud start writing his CV application to P1 but I doubt they appreciate his sales trolling. Not a coincidence their drop happen when he started appearing and never left. lolz!
Kolos shop already? Not really, no more. Toyota have improved their progress and already woke up bro. And they are not so arrogant nowadays.
Improve their progress? Where did you see that? Do you even know how to read charts? Or else I suggest get your eyes checked again.
First time in Malaysia automotive industry history the Made in China cars beat Japanese cars market in Malaysia.
Well Done Geely
I wonder how things would be if there wasn’t any excessive taxing due to protectionist policies.
Many Malaysians are still forced to buy Proton and Perodua due to the government purposely taxing non-national cars out of budget. A Toyota Corolla in Malaysia costs just under the base price of a Mercedes A-Class here in the US.
I’d like to see a Paultan article comparing the prices with and without the extra taxes of Malaysians best selling non-national cars in each segment (except for sales tax of course).
Nevertheless newer Protons has has been have been of great value however that is only thanks to Geely. If it wasn’t for Geely I doubt we would see Proton cars as good as the X70 and X50 for a long time. They messed up not capitalizing on international markets when they first started and only relying on domestic market. Instead of investing in creating Proton into a global brand they took the easy way out and taxed every other non-national car into oblivion and make it rely on domestic sales. Look at Hyundai and Kia and how far they’ve come in the past few decades, Proton literally had the backing of an entire nation.
Do not forget all the casualties and lives lost because of the missing safety technologies. At the same price point, a good safety feature might be available in other markets but was taxed out of reach in Malaysia, while the national brands were not able to offer such feature. On second hand market this manifests itself as for example: for the same amount of money one could have bought a 5-year old BMW instead of a 12-year old one due to the taxes which will have significant gap in terms of safety to the 5-year old one. This is especially serious with products perceived as luxury item which attract much higher excise duty.
National brands? If your talking about P2 I fully agree but P1 had been driving the safety features in car for a while now. Only recently did NN catch up to P1.
Can’t do that. Perodua will die and that will lead a collapse of the local automaker with 42% gone case. This ain’t going to happen.
Hyundai & KIA you think is great? They still sucking on the teats of Gahmen subsidies in Korea. Get real! They are only so-called great cuz they throw in lots of money to improve their engineering and hiring the best talents (read: whitemen).
Please do you research more dude. Dont depends only to paultan. There is no more national car in Malaysia. The high prices is due to economics of scale. P1/P2 have been given special tax due to they are actively involves in malaysia economy cycle. Others? just want to import and pasang only. Why? find yourself.
If Geely didnt rescue P1,hundreds of those ‘overcharging suppliers’ already closed shop.REMEMBER..At one point,they lobby politicians to get gomen R n D funds running into Billions,only to get paid by protong,which is already insolvent.
Disgusting idiots ,using tax payers money disguised as research and development grants to top up their bank accounts.
If Geely didnt step in,Protong will be in buku Sejarah,as”Malaysia’s first national car flop”.
Daihatsu have been rescuing Perodua since 1994. Maruah hilang mana?
You mean Paultan is a pr exec officer for proton and got paid handsomely already?
“Tan Chong is not Nissan, but essentially a customer of the principal” So Nissan MY failures are not due to ETCM but Nissan? Okay so Toyota MY failures are not by UMW Toyota but from Toyota itself. Nicely said.
But at least Toyota and Nissan have improved their progress.
Again point me where you see that ‘improvement’? Their charts have been sliding downhill! What kind of improvement is that!
Oh so sorry, yeah understood that it is because of hitted by covid 19 pandemic, talking about last year, in which all auto brands sales have been affected. Even though it is slight drop compare in 2019, but what I see is that Toyota have improved their progress and already woke up which they are not very arrogant
Want to blame C19?
2015: xde C19
2016: Xde C19
2017: xde C19
2018: xde C19
Nearly whole 2019: xde C19
2015: Toyota sales drop due to 2 airbags with no VSC
2016: poor Toyota sales due to outdated design with old engines, even come with VSC but still only 2 airbags
2017: poor toyota sales due to outdated design with old engines, even additional features
2018: poor toyota sales due to Same goes to 2017
2019: a bit improving sales compare from 2015 – 2018 due to Improving design with more features but slowly catching up sales
Thereby admitting your comment above was simplistic and factually wrong.
Let’s Rock
Toyota will be in third and Honda will be in fourth. Honda is still concurring B-segment sedan/hatchback and C-segment Sedan. But losing ground to Toyota with corolla Cross in SUV. With the introduction of new Hilux helps Toyota in the truck segment further fortify with refreshed Innova and Fortuner. The BR-V also losing ground to the new Expander.
Nissan will be staying in third with the new Almera Turbo and further booster by New Nissan Livina & new Navara. Mazda will be playing the same game.
UMW and DRB-HICOM easily commanded 82% market through P2-TOYOTA and P1-HONDA-TATA sales respectively.
In UMW Toyota’s case it is very evident their marketing dept was totally useless. Even with good products (Vios/Camry/Hilux/Innova), a high-flying advertising agency (Dentsu) and a gazillion amount of money, they couldn’t even get their brand marketing right.
Case in point: In 2015 they did the Vios campaign (yes, the one with the drifting and chase sequence thru Putrajaya…) and had the Chairman and Deputy Chairman do testimonial interviews (!) for a product aimed solely at the younger generation…It is like having to listen to your father and grandfather lecture you while you are driving lah…
Really? But unfortunately, your statement is way too outdated. You are actually still referring to the past, unlike now. Time to move on and update your new story bro.
Kiub, you must be on UMW Toyota’s payroll, aren’t you? I know that because they spend quite a considerable amount of advertising budget on Paultan.org and they also hire people to monitor and reply to online comments like these…
Actually, my statement is not outdated as it taught us that no amount of money in the world can help your brand if you have useless people on your payroll.
2015 was a wake-up year for UMW Toyota as they slid behind Honda and, of all brands, Nissan…
Nope.
Toyota’s decline is from the car buying lashing out at them for being cheap, offering long in the tooth products and skimping on safety gear.
The same is being leveled at honda recently.
But the real answer is: all of the above said.
Goverment policy is one thing. Malaysian market is the one that pushes foreign brands away. Truth is not many car enthusiasts in this country. Most Malaysians just want a car that does the job.
I agree with the point made here. What’s the point of spending tons of money for a car that will devalue eventually.
Better invest and go into property instead.
How does one get enthusiastic about cars when the odds of actually being able to afford one is close to zero for most people? Government policy should change first, then the enthusiasts will follow.
Hondak is gone case
Honda MY failures are not by Honda Malaysia but from Honda itself in terms of design and quality Nicely said.
Geely effect. Newer, seemingly better proposition vs current Japanese model line up.
Mazda is relatively consistent as it’s demographic is different from those going for TNH. It has always been an outlier.
agreed.
take away the protectionist policy for local makes, remove the absurd excise double tax.
tax you for buying non national car (excise), then sales tax you again for buying a car. that’s double taxing.
then we see the fair game la.
open up the automotive policy in Malaysia and than see if proton and perodua can survive or not, how many people will buy a myvi or Iriz if the price difference of this models are same or only marginally different (say 5 to 10k) compared to a Yaris or Jazz ?
Open up and nonnational prices will shoot up since there are no longer competition from national makes. Even at neighbouring countries, the same japanese cars are pricier than you can buy here. What good does opening up do other than making cars more pricier?
P1, P2, Toyota, Nissan all the way
More Proton n P2 pls. Like that will make us German car owner more few, special and prestige. Lol…
There will not be any incentive if there are P3+, because they don’t need to compete. It’s like parents who spoonfeed their kids with material possessions all the way till they’re adults, do you think they’ll be able to stand on their own 2 feet when the time comes?
Tongkat & bantuan spoonfeed from kecik free education, kahwin to bisnes, not be able to stand on their own 2 feet when the time comes. Given projek & kontrak, alibaba style subbed to outside. After summore mintak lagi,
Frankly speaking…this trend is unhealthy for our small auto industry…less competition and more monopoly…
The car affairz and motorshows are like a cny festival. Could that be the cny 2021 will expose another “chinese virus” originated from china again just like cny 2020?
Year 2013 – Nissan Malaysia thru its almera with cheaper price tag couple with flood in Thailand which affects Honda in 2012 give Nissan the advantage…. Year 2014 – Honda thru its new Honda City car very beautiful hit the Malaysian needs tapau the archaic Toyota vios kaw2… the rest is history…toyota is trying very hard to be in the game thru its face-lift models but still a bit behind Honda…nissan totally out of game, worse their ETCM supplied all inferior parts which damaged the reputation more, that’s why even the new n18 almera difficult to give the boost due to bad reputation, just like proton b4 geely time…
Continued frm previous comments: With the rise of China proton – non national faced worse competition as China proton can give value for money car but be careful with the after sales service… On the other hand, perodua with smart Japanese keep on their rebadging exercise, importantly keep the price low and improved after sales service to find the sweet spot in Malaysia car industry…..
Other than the national car able to bridge the gap when it comes to features; maybe the rise in cost of living and the stagnant income contribute to the issue as well. Car maintenance nowadays are not as cheap as last time due to rising cost and more parts in a car.
From the graphs, below is my opinion and observation.
1) Start from 2012 until 2018, i think malaysian have a good enonomic and financial stability since the data show the non national car shares is bigger than national car.My simple logic is that, if you have more money, you will not buy Proton or Perodua.
2) In 2019, Proton X70 introduction has take shares from CR-V, HR-V, & other from the same segment n prizes. And it cause the shares for non national car decreases.
3) The move to sale Proton equities to Geely shows it good results as under the new management,Proton achieve better sales in 2019 & 2020.
4) With 1st gen Myvi introduction in May 2005, Perodua become no1 (sales) in Malaysia since 2006, Kudos for Perodua teams.
5) Proton falls rapidly from 2001 until 2006, from this period of time, we can see poor quality issue by Waja and Gen2 model caused the downfalls.
6) Introduction of persona 1st model in 2007 and saga BLM on 2008, save proton from it’s continuous downfall. However it only maintain until 2011 as the share continue to drop to 11% on 2018.
Any opinion guy?