Malaysia Sales Up 6% on Year Despite Slow October

Malaysia’s new-vehicle sales fell fractionally in October to 55,078 units compared with 55,447 year-ago.

The Malaysian Automotive Assn. says commercial-vehicle sales rose 2.9% to 7,148 units, not enough to offset a 2.3% drop in car deliveries to 47,930.

The government’s Bernama news agency says the latest result left the year-to-date volume up 6% to 543,048 units.

Malaysia’s vehicle production rose 4.3% to 54,549 units for the month, with car output increasing 7.6% to 50,184 and the CV build tumbling 23.4% to 4,365.

The association predicts November sales will be higher than October’s as the market returns to normal after the release of government’s 2014 budget, carryover orders from October are filled and buyer optimism is generated by the Kuala Lumpur auto show, which runs until Nov. 24.