Malaysia LV Sales, Production Slump in October

Malaysian new-vehicle sales fell 1.8% year-on-year in October to 47,041 units, leaving the 10-month total up 1.4% at 472,723.

The Malaysian Automotive Assn. says it expects the 14.8% rise in deliveries from September to be followed by another increase in November, citing new model launches and aggressive year-end sales campaigns.

New-car sales fell 2.0% to 41,668 units, leaving a 10-month total up 2.4% at 423,451. Commercial-vehicle deliveries edged up 16 units to 5,373 for a year-to-date total down 6.5% at 49,271.

Association data shows Perodua maintaining its market lead with 16,491 sales in October, giving it 167,037 year-to-date, a 1.6% rise.

Proton, which says there will be no layoffs after its tie-up with Chinese automaker Geely, saw sales jump 13% to 5,083 units for a year-to-date total up 6.3% at 61,380.

Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ahmad Maslan has told the Malaysian Parliament the new Proton management has decided to retain all of its 9,600 employees. He says Proton wants to grow its workforce to 20,000 in the next 10 years with sales of 500,000 units a year.

Meantime, local production slumped 23.8% in October to 40,464 units, leaving the 10-month total down 4.2% at 421,635.

The month’s new-car build slid 26.4% to 36,632 units to take the year-to-date total down 3.8% at 388,971.

The CV build rose 14.8% to 3,832 units for the month but remained down 8.1% for the year at 32,664.