Malaysia's new vehicle market continued to plunge in August, by 22% to 51,148 units compared with strong year earlier sales of 65,550 units, according to registration data released by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).
This followed even sharper year on year declines in the previous two months, compared with strong year earlier sales when the newly elected government of Mahathir Mohamed introduced a three month sales tax holiday at the beginning of June 2018.
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Sales of passenger vehicles fell by close to 16% to 46,802 units in August while commercial vehicles sales were down by more than 50% at 4,346 units.
Total vehicle sales in the first eight months of the year were 6% lower at 398,335 units compared with 423,615 units previously with passenger vehicle sales falling by 3.7% to 363,866 units and commercial vehicle sales down by 25% at 34,469 units.
Proton sales fell by 3.9% to 9,127 units in August but were still up by 36% to 61,396 units year to date, reflecting strong demand for the Geely-based X70 SUV launched at the end of last year.
The company said orders for the new Saga, which was launched at the beginning of August, had already exceeded 10,000 units.
Total vehicle production in the country was just slightly lower in the eight month period, by 0.7% at 380,940 units from 383,498 units in the same period of last year.
