KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s total industry volume (TIV) grew 1.0 per cent or 5,689 units to 604,287 units in 2019 from 598,589 units recorded in 2018, the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said.
President Datuk Aishah Ahmad said the performance was a good achievement for the local automotive industry despite the challenging environment, adding that the local automotive sector had turned around to surpass the 600,000 units mark after three consecutive years TIV hovering below 600,00 units.
“The relatively good performance in 2019 could be attributed to a stable economy and employment market, normalisation of vehicles sales in the fourth-quarter of 2019, aggressive campaigns towards last few months of 2019, introduction of new models with latest additional specifications, design styles and at competitive prices as well as attractive offers and schemes for buyers,” she said at a press conference after presenting market review for 2019 and outlook for 2020, here today.
The increase in TIV was also fuelled by the passenger vehicles (PV) segment with an increase or 3.2 per cent or 17,080 units to 550,179 units, while commercial vehicle (CV) segment registered a decline of 17.4 per cent or 11,391 units to 54,108 units in 2019, she said.
“Within the PV segment, passenger cars continued to form the biggest segment in 2019 with 69.4 per cent.
“This followed by four-wheel-drive or sport utility vehicle with a share of 22.6 per cent (48,962 units), multipurpose vehicle at 7.4 per cent and window vans at 0.5 per cent,” she said.
On the lower CV sales, Aishah said the decline mainly due to slowdown in local economy as companies cut back on capital expenditures.
However, the pick-up sub-segment continued to form the biggest share of 64.9 per cent with 35,121 units delivered in 2019.
According to MAA, hybrid vehicle sales reduced 37 per cent to 13,049 units in 2019 from 20,744 units in 2018, while electric vehicles recorded at 32 units compared to 2 units delivered in 2018.
Aishah said MAA has forecast TIV of 607,000 units this year comprising 552,000 units for PV segment and 55,000 units for CV segment.
“We expect 2020 will be another challenging year due to persistent weak ringgit which likely affect business confidence and lower consumer confidence and impact car prices,” she said.
Aishah said the continued tightening of lending guidelines including for hire purchase loans by the authorities and unexpected changes in government automotive policies and taxes will impact vehicles sales this year.