Malaysia’s vehicle market bounced back in August with a 19.1% year-on-year rise in sales to 50,079 units after a small volume decline in July, according to data released by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).
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The market last month was driven higher by new models, especially non-national companies, with Toyota in particular continuing to benefit from the launch of its Innova and Avanza models in the last year.
Last month the market shrugged off the uncertainty of the delayed National Automotive Policy announcement, which is now scheduled for September, and absorbed price increases across most brands as vehicle manufacturers passed on some of the recent rises in input costs. In the first eight months, total vehicle sales rose by 12.4% to 356,941 units.
The strong performance in August puts the market back on track for another year of growth in 2005, according to local analysts, although sentiment remains fragile. The MAA still expects full-year sales to be in the region of 520,000 units, up from 483,000 units in 2004. On the whole, the country’s economy has been less affected by the recent record oil prices than in neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Indonesia. Malaysia is a net exporter of oil and fuel and electricity prices remain heavily subsidised by the government.
Buying interest continues to shift away from the conventional passenger car segments in favour of the commercial vehicle sector with its broadening range of utility vehicles and MPVs. Suzuki is the latest to come into this segment, with exports of its Indonesian-sourced APV model. In the first eight months of the year, commercial vehicle sales rose by 47% to 98,808 units, while passenger car sales rose by 3% to 258,138 units.
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By GlobalDataThe two national manufacturers struggled to keep pace with non-national car companies, although in the case of Perodua – which is now controlled by Daihatsu Motor of Japan, the recent arrival of the Mivvy small passenger car has helped. In the first seven months of the year, its market share has dropped to 24.6%, from 26.5% a year earlier.
For Proton, however, conditions have gone from bad to worse. Its market share dropped to 29% in the first seven months of 2005, down from 35.7% a year earlier. Domestic sales volumes in this period have dropped to 88,870, from 96,709 units. The company’s new management team this month announced a RM137 million provision in the first half of the 2006 fiscal year against what is understood to be debt and unsuccessful overseas ventures. Falling domestic and overseas sales and higher marketing costs and incentives have resulted in the company making a net loss of RM12.3m for the six months.
Next month’s launch of an automatic version of the new Savvy model should help sales a bit in the second half, as will the Satria small car replacement which is due in the first quarter of 2006. But generally, the company is struggling to stay competitive with current levels of market protection and still there is no sign of the long awaited comprehensive partnership with Volkswagen.
Tony Pugliese
