Malaysian vehicle sales compared to ASEAN countries – Thailand tops sales and production as of May 2020

Following the release of vehicle sales data for June 2020, the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) has also released ASEAN sales figures for the year until May 2020. As the case has been before, only eight out of the ten ASEAN countries have been listed here, as Cambodia and Laos have not been included.

In this period, a total of 833,421 vehicles were sold in the ASEAN region, compared to 1,436,830 units sold by this time last year. This is 603,409 units less than a year ago, or a reduction of 42%. From the total sold up to May this year, Thailand contributed the largest sum at 270,591 vehicles sold, or 32.5% of the total sold in ASEAN. This is a 38% drop for our neighbour to the north, which sold 437,722 units this time last year.

Second in sales volume for this period is Indonesia, which sold 248,310 units in this period, which represents a 41% drop compared to the 422,497 sold in the country last year. Here in Malaysia, 129,561 units were sold until May 2020, compared to 253,731 units sold this time last year, or a 49% decrease. This was, however, a significant rebound from April 2020, when just 141 cars were sold.

The significant drop in industry volume was due to reductions in sales from member countries across the board, with the exception of Myanmar which charted an increase of 5% in industry volume, as the country recorded sales of 7,552 vehicles in May 2020 year-to-date, compared to 7,215 vehicle in the same period last year. Brunei gained too, with a an 8% gain to 5,368 units sold until May 2020, up from 4,966 sold the same period last year.

In terms of production volume, 1,082,792 units were produced from the countries in the region until May 2020, and by this measure Thailand is also at the top spot with 534,428 units produced, or 49.4% of total ASEAN production at this time. Two fewer countries on this list, as Singapore and Brunei do not have vehicle production activity.

Production has been reduced across the field here, with top producer Thailand charting a drop by 40% from the 893,067 units made this time last year, followed by Indonesia with 352,569 units produced until May, which recorded a 33% drop in production from the 523,183 units made this time last year.

Malaysia recorded a drop in production to 121,005 units in May 2020, a drop of 51% from the 247,563 units made in May 2019, the largest percentage drop among the manufacturing countries in ASEAN. For this time, the Malaysian production figure comprises 11.1% of the total produced in ASEAN as of May 2020.

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