Malaysian January LV Sales Down 31% from December

The Malaysian auto industry boosted its January sales by just 78 units from a year ago, but the result was down 31% from December.

The Malaysian Automotive Assn. says the year started with sales of 44,667 units, up from 44,589 a year earlier.

The MAA expects February deliveries to fall short of January’s total. It says in a statement this will be because a short working month due to the post-Chinese New Year holidays.

The slight January gain resulted from the continuation of aggressive sales and promotional campaigns linked to the Chinese New Year. But the market was hit by a shorter working month for the New Year festivals, as well as the effects of East Coast floods.

The new-car market rose 0.9% to 40,294 units, but that was almost offset by a 5.9% drop in commercial-vehicle deliveries to 4,373.

The new-vehicle build fell 2.4%, to 45,532 units. Car production of 42,767 units was little changed from a year-ago 42,698, while CV production dived 30.0% to 2,765.

Meantime, rumors swirling around local automaker Proton continue unabated.

The government news agency Bernama quotes Ong Ka Chuan, International Trade and Industry Second Minister, as saying Proton will sell 51% of its shares to a foreign company are untrue. He says a final decision has not been made.

“The government is not relinquishing the countryʼs proprietary rights,” he says.

Ong says Proton is in the midst of identifying a partner and simultaneously will announce the partnership and the merging of its plants in Tanjung Malim and Shah Alam.