MAA announces industry performance for first half of 2012
The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) yesterday announced the sales and production figures of new motor vehicles in Malaysia for the first half of 2012. The first six months of the year saw car makers shift a total of 301,224 vehicles off their stockyards on to the road, an increase of 1.4% from the corresponding period of 2011, which sold 297,203 vehicles.
The association’s report, presented by President Datuk Aishah Ahmad, points to two predominant factors influencing the market’s performance – continued disruptions to the supply chain of Japanese marques that were hit by last year’s Thailand floods and the tightening of loan regulations by Bank Negara which took effect on 1 January 2012.
Effects of the new guidelines by Bank Negara were especially pronounced in the year’s first quarter, as TIV shrunk by 25% from the corresponding period of 2011, with the lower-priced segments most adversely affected. Efforts by various stakeholders led to stabilization from April onwards, with strong rebound reported in May and June. The association anticipates a continuation of this upward trend in the next few months, especially with the Hari Raya festive period around the corner.
Breaking the figures down, passenger vehicles contributed 265,855 sales to the TIV, with the remaining 35,369 units accounted for by commercial vehicles. Within the passenger vehicles category, passenger cars accounted for 76% of sales with 203,181 units, followed by MPV (19% – 50,597 units), SUV (4% – 9,269 units), and window van (1% – 2,807 units).
Among commercial vehicles, pick-up trucks accounted for the highest proportion of sales, with 24,076 units accounting for 68% of the segment. The rest of it are made up by trucks (23% – 8,138), panel vans (7% – 2,312), buses (1% – 360), and prime movers (1% – 474).
Local production volume increased by 3.2%, with 282,060 vehicles rolling out from Malaysian plants compared 273,399 during the first half of 2011. As it was with the TIV, production similarly slowed down in the first quarter due to the same factors, and recovery commenced in April. It is worth noting however, production of passenger vehicles recorded a slight decrease from the corresponding decrease in the first half of 2012, as opposed to commercial vehicles, which saw production shot up by 50.3% from the corresponding period of 2011.
Passenger vehicle production tally added up to 250,208 units, compared to 252,200 in the first half of 2011. This decrease was single-handedly affected by a downturn in the production of passenger cars only, as the other passenger vehicle segments all reported increases in production. Meanwhile, over in the commercial vehicle segment, pick-up trucks were the main drivers of growth, with production increasing by 80.8%.
Looking ahead, MAA has announced that it will maintain its original TIV forecast of 615,000 for 2012 – a 2.5% growth from 2011’s 600,123. Introduction of new models are expected to further spur sales, and hybrid vehicles are also expected to maintain its increasing popularity thanks to tax incentives. The association also projects further growth over the next four years, with 2016 TIV anticipated to reach almost 670,000 units.
