Malaysian New-Vehicle Sales Improve 14.3% in July

Malaysian new-vehicle sales climbed 14.3% to 48,553 units in July, raising the year-to-date total 4.7% to 333,010 units, the Malaysian Automotive Assn. reports.

Car sales rose 15.6% year-on-year for the month to 43,524 units, while commercial-vehicle deliveries edged up 4.3% to 5,029.

MAA data shows the 7-month result for new-car sales up 6.1% at 299,273 units and the CV market down 6.1% at 33,737.

On the production side, the domestic-vehicle build rose 12.4% to 43,952 units in July for a 7-month total at 299,270, down less than 1% from year-ago’s 282,038.

Car assemblies were up a healthy 15.9% year-on-year in July at 40,492 units to reach a 7-month total of 276,596, up marginally from prior-year’s 275,953.

The build for the small-CV segment dropped 16.7% to 3,460 units in July for a 7-month total down 14.5% at 22,314.

The MAA says the outlook for August indicates a slight improvement on the July result, driven by ongoing promotional campaigns filling back orders after technical difficulties with the government’s online registration system were solved.