Malaysian Sales Post 15.1% Improvement in July

Malaysian new-vehicle sales jumped 15.1% in July to 68,431 units for the best result for the month in four years.

Malaysian Automotive Assn. data shows the overall volume was up 28% on June.

In a report by the government’s Bernama news agency, MAA credits the sales increase to a rush for deliveries in conjunction with the Hari Raya celebration marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, and the launch of new models.

MAA says Malaysian vehicle production rose 2.1% in July to 54,792 units, with car output up 4.2% to 49,408 and commercial-vehicle builds down 13.9% to 5,384.

The Business Times reports there are signs Proton’s lackluster domestic sales are starting to turn around with the launch of the Saga Super Value, boosting the auto maker’s total July deliveries to more than 16,000 units for a 24% market share.

The result broke Proton’s July sales record for the first time since DRB-Hicom took over the previously government-owned company 16 months ago.

The newspaper also says Lukman Ibrahim is back at Proton as deputy CEO less than a month after resigning the post. His return comes as the auto maker works to transform itself into a global player producing 500,000 units a year from 150,000 now.

Elsewhere, Honda Malaysia sold a record 6,039 units last month and received 8,780 orders. It says in a statement the result mainly was driven by the newly launched Jazz CKD Petrol (1,434 units), Jazz Hybrid (1,107) and City (3,114).

Honda Malaysia says customer attitudes about buying cars are changing.

“The Malaysian market experienced customers’ ‘wait and see’ attitude during the general election period; however, the sentiment in purchasing new cars is improving,” the auto maker says in a statement.

To meet the growing demand, Honda Malaysia is opening dealerships in every major city, with a total of 80 in place by year’s end.