Vehicle sales performance in Malaysia, 2020 vs 2019 – all the numbers, and how the brands fared last year

Vehicle sales performance in Malaysia, 2020 vs 2019 – all the numbers, and how the brands fared last year

The 2020 total industry volume (TIV) forecast of 607,000 units made by the Malaysia Automotive Association (MAA) last January may have sounded cautious, offering only modest growth from the 604,287 units achieved in 2019, but perfectly attainable.

Of course, the arrival of a virus put paid to the best laid plans, although the eventual outcome was far from the massive setback that was projected in May, when the forecast was revised down by a third to 400,000 units.

The introduction of the SST exemption on the sales of new CKD and CBU cars in June, which was to run until December, led the association to believe that the numbers would improve to the tune of 470,000 units. In the end, it surpassed that comfortably, with the TIV reported for the year finishing at 529,434 units.

Nonetheless, the deficit of 74,853 units from the previous year meant that most brands inevitably failed to match the numbers they accomplished in 2019. Here’s a quick breakdown of how major brands performed in 2020.

Perodua, which has been leading the market since 2006, continued to hold on to the top position despite a 8.4% drop in sales last year. The automaker managed to sell 220,163 units, which was 20,178 units fewer than the 240,341 cars it sold the previous year.

While short of its initial 2020 forecast of 240,000 units, the eventual 2020 total exceeded the revised 210,000-unit projection it revealed in August. Impressively, despite the overall market shrinking, the national carmaker managed to increase its market share from 39.8% in 2019 to 41.6% last year.

Finishing second again was Proton, which had plenty of reason to be pleased with how 2020 shaped up. It was one of the handful of passenger car brands that gained traction in terms of sales, the 108,524 units it shifted last year being a 8,341-unit improvement over the 100,183 units it managed in 2019.

While the 8.3% improvement isn’t a big a jump as that accomplished in 2019, where the automaker recorded a 54.7% increase in sales compared to 2018, the fact that it managed to register higher numbers in a topsy-turvy year is testament to the fact that buyers are flocking back to the brand.

The company also had the honour of being the highest gainer last year, its market share increasing to 20.5% from 16.6%. A bit of additional trivia for those into numbers and percentages – Perodua and Proton now command over a 60% combined share (62.1%, to be precise) of the market, the highest since 2003.

Honda kept third place, its 60,468 units good enough to keep it ahead of Toyota (58,501 units), but the brand sold 24,950 units (or 29.2%) less than it did in 2019. Nissan sales also dropped to 14,160 units, down 33.3% from the previous year. Naturally, all three brands saw their market share contract.

The few gainers included Mazda (12,141 units) and Mitsubishi (9,163 units), with those numbers representing a 4.2% and 12.6% increase, respectively. Elsewhere, Subaru (-57.3%), Peugeot (-45.4%) and Kia (-77.9%) suffered major drops, and brands such as Volkswagen (-39.2%) and Hyundai (-37.9%) also had a very soft year.

As for the premium brands, Volvo was the only main player in the segment to record a green arrow – it managed to sell 1,950 cars last year, 3.6% more than the 1,883 units it sold in 2019. The table also finally shows complete BMW (and MINI) numbers for the year. The brand had said last year it had switched to a quarterly reporting, but the numbers had remained stuck going well past mid-year.

Also, while the table shows very striking numbers in red for Mercedes-Benz, it is worth noting that the company stopped reporting its numbers after Q1 last year, and so its total remains as from then. The final number of cars sold by the brand remains undisclosed.

How then will the market fare this year? Well, while there seems to be no end in sight to the pandemic at this juncture, the MAA is optimistic that the market will rebound in 2021. The association has confidently forecast that the TIV will rise this year by nearly 8% to 570,000 units, with the growth very much aided by the SST exemption that will run until June 30.

Vehicle sales performance in Malaysia, 2020 vs 2019 – all the numbers, and how the brands fared last year

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • hazri on Jan 27, 2021 at 9:18 pm

    2020 review
    Perodua – Strong sales across all car models.
    Proton – Bolstered by X70 and geelyrized FL versions.
    Honda – Weak sales previous gen city, jazz & accord.
    Toyota – Less camry & alphard sold due to covid.

    2021 Forecast
    Perodua – D55L Rocky Turbo. Enough said.
    Proton – X70 & X50 continue sales laku.
    Honda – New gen accord & city. and maybe City HB
    Toyota – Vios, yaris & hilux sell like goreng pisang panas

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 32 Thumb down 6
    • Hazru on Jan 27, 2021 at 11:17 pm

      In addition to that:
      2021 Forecast
      Proton – Iriz Facelift and Persona Facelift
      Honda – Odyssey, Civic
      Toyota – Corolla Cross, Camry 2.0 and Camry 2.5, Fortuner and Innova
      Nissan – Serena, Navara, Kicks and Almera

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
      • Dredd on Jan 28, 2021 at 12:46 pm

        This proved rakyat strong konfiden in Govt. syabas!

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 39 Thumb down 23
      • Melania Rosmah on Jan 28, 2021 at 7:24 pm

        Did you guys see the sales data for Hyundai Sime Darby?
        In 12 months,only 1400 flew off the shelf.
        Say 45 dealers nationwide..each dealer only sold less than 3 cars each month.
        Now,we know why the pricing for Hyundai cars is like Mercedes premium pricing,alto the quality is not on par with Merc.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
        • Korean Fan on Jan 29, 2021 at 12:27 pm

          its priced very reasonable. Hyundai Elantra won prestigious 2021 North American Car of the Year, only the best for M’sians

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 3
    • Civic Turbo 2018 on Jan 28, 2021 at 10:53 am

      The data pointing to 1 fact:
      Pandemic doesn’t affect the TRUE-RICH

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
      • nasi kicap hitam on Jan 28, 2021 at 12:25 pm

        Exactly why everybody must become TRUE-RICH. can afford to buy Birkins, Rolls Royce Phantom, Mustang, Range Rover and an Audi..

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 3
        • Rakyat Malaysia on Jan 29, 2021 at 10:22 am

          Rakyat have full confidence in how things are being run. Well done!

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 2
    • Rakyat Malaysia on Jan 28, 2021 at 10:31 pm

      Many have full confidence in how things are being run. Well done!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 2
  • drplhon on Jan 27, 2021 at 9:40 pm

    Audi 0 sales??

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 4
    • Celup King on Jan 27, 2021 at 10:08 pm

      Mesidis stopped reporting sales numbers after Q1 2020 … otherwise TIV easily 600K units. Mesidis lost confidence in the country leadership and U-turn flip flop..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 34 Thumb down 25
      • Copy Paste on Jan 28, 2021 at 11:30 pm

        PS copy paste: “Merc is not in this list because it chose not to be here.”

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 4
    • Was wondering as well, where is Audi?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
      • Zahid on Jan 28, 2021 at 2:40 pm

        Audi nih …dah kena kecam di media sosial dan siap gantung kain rentang.. Keadaan memang dah lama keruh, terkubur.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
    • HangTua on Jan 28, 2021 at 12:07 pm

      Audi is not in this list because it chose not to be here. It sold about 7,000 cars last year.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 6
    • Kim Jong Din on Jan 28, 2021 at 7:36 pm

      OMG..Kia sold less than 800 units…so each month each dealer only sold less than 2 cars on average.
      Thats why we know the Naza bradders are more into exotic AP cars and real estate .

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
      • Billie Dharmajaya on Feb 11, 2022 at 10:43 pm

        to be honest i also wondering why korean cars sells are really weak if we compare with japanese cars and chinese cars. i wish that in the future hyundai or kia can success and sells lot of cars every year in indonesia and other south east asian country. like what you know that korean cars is good enough mostly for build quality is better far than the japanese cars that sells only high price but low quality

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Chow Wei Zhen on Jan 27, 2021 at 11:44 pm

    So who said toyota figure is worst and not able to sell well? Only haters will say. Sigh…..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 1
    • Mel Ayu Anakersone Susrohing Ya on Jan 28, 2021 at 1:31 pm

      At this rate, Malaysis car sales will overtake Bangladesh, Burma & Kemboja real soon..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 5
  • M & B on Jan 28, 2021 at 1:09 am

    Congrats to Proton, Toyota and BMW for improving their sales in H2 2020 than H1 2020, even it is understand that due to coronavirus pandemic which affects to all car brands sales. But this year round, should do much better than last year.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
  • Alive & Kicking on Jan 28, 2021 at 6:50 am

    The figures do look impressive, at least for certain brands. However, if there are statistics which show the number of cases where buyers could not make their monthly payments, that would give a clearer picture of the actual situation.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 1
  • applegreen on Jan 28, 2021 at 10:19 am

    Looks like subaru strategy by adding eyesight system to their main models arent attractive enough. At rm8k, better change it with excellent infotainment system or with harmon kardon speakers.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
  • Mason on Jan 28, 2021 at 11:03 am

    I am pretty confident that mazda will takeover nissan to be the no#3 sales of non national car in near future. Keep it up mazda.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 20
    • peminat neelofa on Jan 28, 2021 at 4:19 pm

      mazda doesnt bother competing with honda, toyota, nissan lah. they only go up against bmw, merc, audi, vw, etc.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 1
    • no.3 no.4 belong to Nissan/Mazda

      nothing special bruh.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Behsubehsi on Jan 28, 2021 at 11:36 pm

      Nope.. Mazda export their cars out of Msia. If they want to easily but they don’t need to.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
    • James on Jan 29, 2021 at 12:38 am

      Agreed! Mazda is gonna catch up to the top non national makers real soon

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 6
  • Mel Ayu Ratu Segara Masin on Jan 28, 2021 at 11:48 am

    Actually we would like to see total sales RM value instead of total unit sales. Quality vs Quantity

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 3
  • karam singh on Jan 28, 2021 at 2:33 pm

    though Toyota is still fourth, i am not surprised the difference with Honda was only abt 2k units. unlike 2019 which was 14k units difference. so well done Toyota!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • Truth on Jan 28, 2021 at 2:38 pm

    should include sales numbers by models too

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 1
  • Wait H & T closed shop here … who can survive with 50K car yearly …

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • ex VGM staff on Jan 30, 2021 at 1:00 pm

      umw toyota has shares in Perodua so actually basically all cars sold to Perodua has some margines going to them

      most of the branches sold to dealers already. almost zero headache.

      and almost all the dealers also run other car business including Honda, Mazda, Perodua, Proton and VW.

      companies like Telagamas basically are in Goh Brothers group. Magna Viable Toyota is also Magna Speed Honda.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Jascha on Jan 28, 2021 at 8:15 pm

    The MB sales figure showed a water diving drop. Eventhough it’s reported until Q1, I assume the exact final figure still drop in around 50% or even higher and that’s the reason why MBM didn’t want to disclose the exact yearly sales figure, malu kalah kena BMW. I also dare to predict within this 3 – 5 years, MB yearly sales will keep trailing behind BMW.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
  • Man Baik on Jan 28, 2021 at 10:04 pm

    different figure from proton here

    https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/proton-2020-car-sales-volume-88-onyear-109716-units

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Anthony Lim (Member) on Jan 29, 2021 at 10:16 am

      Indeed, and there is a reason for this. The same figure shows up in our story attached as a link to the quoted Proton numbers. However, the 109,716 units is Proton’s own reporting, and includes export figures. The 108,524 units as listed is for domestic sales as reported to the MAA. You’ll find 2019 numbers to be similar in nature.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • newme on Jan 29, 2021 at 10:46 am

    Proton reported 20K booking of Iriz before launching too.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Fareed on Jan 30, 2021 at 2:08 am

    Sales increase coming from PROTON, MAZDA, VOLVO, PORSCHE, DAIHATSU, MITSUBISHI, JAGUAR, TATA and China cars

    The rest of the brands poises a big drop in sales numbers especially Honda, Toyota , Nissan and VW.

    This shows that most salary earners opting for those slightly popular non national car makes like Honda , Toyota , Nissan could hold back their purchase due to job dismissal or pay cut could have lost their purchasing power compare to the those stable lots who does not like buying Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Axxx on Jan 06, 2021 at 10:06 am
    Toyota sales figure also worst, estimate around 55k units.

    Well done, 3000 extra more than my estimated figure.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 5
 

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