Rough December Leaves Malaysia 2017 Result Negative

An adverse December marked by floods in parts of the Malaysian peninsula pushed the country’s new-vehicle sales down 15.6% to 54,729 units, leaving the full-year result off 0.6% at 576,635.

The Malaysian Automotive Assn. says the December result wasn’t helped by “excessive” offers started much earlier in 2017 by automakers.

The month turned a market that had been just ahead of the 2016 result into a small loss.

The MAA isn’t optimistic about January, either, predicting the volume will be down on December.

It says this is because the year-end offers already given by car companies in December saw most sales concluded that month. It also cites stringent loan-approval rules.

The December market saw new-car sales plummet 16.5% to 48,077 units and commercial-vehicle deliveries slip 8.0% to 6,652.

The full-year new-car result was barely changed from 2016, eking out an 85-unit increase to 514,679 units. All the red ink was spilled in the small-CV segment, which fell 5.4% to 61,956 units.

Malaysian vehicle production fell in line with sales.

The year ended with output down 8.4% at 499,639 units. The new-car build dropped 8.8% to 459,558 units, while CV production fell 3.6% to 40,081.

Market leader Perodua saw 2017 sales drop 1.1% to 204,887 units, but it beat its 202,000-unit sales target. Its market share eased to 39.8% from a year-earlier 40.3%, while its vehicle production fell 6% to 200,000 units.

The government’s Bernama news agency reports President and CEO Aminar Rashid Salleh as saying Perodua aims to boost sales 2% this year to 209,000 units.

“Based on our internal calculations, we expect the total industry volume to increase to 590,000 units in 2018, which could see our market share sustained at slightly above 35%,” Aminar says in a statement.

Honda Malaysia, which moved into second place in 2016, stayed there and laid claim to the highest sales ever achieved by a non-national brand in Malaysia with 2017 deliveries up 19% at a record 109,511 units.

“Based on internal data, our market share was at 19%, an increase of 3.2 points from 2016,” Managing Director and CEO Toichi Ishiyama says. “For the first time ever, we surpassed the 100,000-unit sales achievement within a calendar year.”

One-time domestic giant Proton reported 2017 sales slipped 1.8% to 70,991 units. It says its Saga (30,000 units), Persona (15,390) and Ertiga (6,091) accounted for 80% of sales.

“The overall number was affected by poorer fleet sales with 2,807 units sold in 2017 due to lower taxi orders,” it says in a statement.

Toyota followed, with sales up 8.9% at 63,757 units. It led the CV market with 21,877 deliveries for a 35.3% market share.

Nissan stayed in fifth place, dropping 33.3% to 27,154 units.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry predicts 2018 production will grow about 4% to between 530,000 and 535,000 units. It sees domestic sales climbing 2% to between 586,000 and 591,000 units. Vehicle exports are forecast to reach 34,000 units.

Local industry analyst Paul Tan reports Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamad says sales of energy-efficient vehicles rose for a fourth straight year, to 52% from 42.8% in 2016. Of these, 83.2% were gasoline, 13% diesel and 3.8% hybrid.

Mustapa says 19 automakers offer EEVs in Malaysia and EEV production rose to 308,807 units in 2017 from 247,912 in 2016.