New vehicle sales in Malaysia rebounded by 22% to 61,795 units in May 2023 from 50,663 units a year earlier, according to registration data from the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).

Last month’s rebound followed a 19% year on year decline in April which had fewer working days compared with last year due to the annual Eid holidays. Sales in April were also affected by a rush to register vehicles purchased tax free last year under the government’s Covid recovery programme before the end March deadline.

The economy has remained strong this year despite a series of interest rate hikes by the central bank with first quarter annualised GDP growth a better than expected 5.6% driven mainly by buoyant domestic consumption.

In the first five months of the year, vehicle sales were still up 12% at 300,978 units, from 268,115 a year ago, with passenger vehicle sales rising 14% to 268,479 units while commercial vehicle sales were 3% higher at 32,499 units.

Total vehicle production increased 18% to 304,484 units.

Proton global sales rebounded 39% to 62,970 units year to date from weak year earlier volume, including 820 exports. The Saga remained the brand’s best selling model year to date (YRD) with 27,214 deliveries followed by the Geely-based X50 compact SUV with 15,113 units. The company launched its first hybrid model last month, the Geely-based X90 SUV, and said it planned to launch one locally made new energy vehicle (NEV) model per year to help strengthen sales.

UMW Toyota reported an 8% sales increase to 39,990 units YTD, lifted by the introduction of new models and new variants of exiting models including the new Vios compact sedan in March. The company plans to launch a second hybrid model in additional to its Corolla Cross and the BZ4X BEV SUV later this year.

The MAA previously said it expected vehicle sales to decline 10% to 650,000 units in 2023 after surging by 42% to a record high of 720,658 units last year, reflecting slowing global economic growth and rising interest rates.