It looks like it will be a strong year ahead for the automotive industry, with the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) releasing vehicle sales results for the first half of 2024. According to data released by the organisation today, the total industry volume for the first six months reached 390,296 units, 6.6% higher than the 366,176 units recorded during the same period last year.
This encouraging performance was driven by a particularly strong showing from the passenger car market, which grew 9.2% (or 30,162 units) to 356,859 units. This more than made up for the shortfall on the commercial vehicle side, which contracted by 15.3% (or 6,042 units) to 33,437 units.
A few key factors of the positive growth were given by MAA, including a resilient economy that saw Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) increase by 4.2% in the first quarter of the year, as well as the overnight policy rate (OPR) remaining unchanged at three per cent since March 2023. A stable employment market and socio-political environment were also cited.
In addition, the TIV was helped by several new model launches (including electric vehicles, sales of which shot up 112% to 6,617 units) and a strong backlog of orders, particularly for A-segment vehicles like the Perodua Axia. Speaking of Perodua, the company’s strong sales performance helped propel the market share of national makes – which also includes Proton – to 62% (up 1.7%), with combined sales of 241,937 units.
As a result of the increased TIV, MAA has revised its full-year forecast upwards, from its original target of 740,000 to 765,000 units. This is despite the elephant in the room of the government’s fuel subsidy rationalisation programme, which has already seen the price of diesel jump to RM3.35 per litre, with a similar increase for RON95 petrol expected to be imminent.
President Mohd Shamsor bin Mohd Zain said that car companies already have strategies to address this (although he did not elaborate on exactly what those strategies entail), but added that MAA does not expect a big impact on vehicle sales this year.
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