2013 sales – Breakdown by brand

As revealed by the Malaysian Automotive Association earlier today, the automotive industry once again surpassed expectations in 2013, with total industry volume of 655,793 vehicles sold exceeding MAA’s own forecast by over 15,000 units, remarkable considering uncertainties caused first by the 13th General Elections, then Budget 2014, and finally delayed announcement of the National Automotive Policy (NAP 2014) that was finally revealed earlier this week.

Such is the nature of business, last year’s market produced a fair share of winners and losers, with the biggest winner once again being Perodua with 196,071 sales putting them top of the pile with a market share of 29.9%. Perodua’s numbers represent a 3.7% growth in volume, but its market share had in fact contracted from 2012’s figure of 30.1%. Proton, meanwhile, lost ground in both sales volume and market share, the former shrinking from 141,121 to 138,753 units whilst the latter shrinking from 22.5% to 21.2%.

The Japanese big three – Toyota, Nissan, and Honda – continue to hold commanding positions in the non-national market, but alarm bells are surely ringing over at UMW Toyota Motor where Toyota sales dropped from 105,151 to 91,185 units. While most companies will undoubtedly be pleased to secure in excess of 90,000 sales in Malaysia, no company will let a sales drop of nearly 14,000 units go unnoticed.

In 2012, combined sales of the Japanese big three accounted for 28.2% of the market whereas in 2013, their total volume increased marginally to 29.9%. As it has in previous years, Toyota continues to enjoy a healthy lead over the closely-locked Nissan and Honda, but that lead is in danger of being slashed. With Nissan and Honda growing their sales volume by almost 17,000 cars each, it essentially means that these two brands grew their market share at Toyota’s expense.

The combined market share of top five brands above accounted for 81% of 2013’s TIV and below them, only four brands were able to break the 10,000-unit threshold: Mitsubishi (12,348), Hyundai-Inokom (12,217), Isuzu (12,061), and Ford (10,660). Volkswagen, after enjoying continuous and unprecedented growth since 2010, suffers a decline from 13,003 to 9,538 units, despite launching the excellent Golf 7 and more affordable Polo Sedan CKD.

Other notable performers include Mazda, which grew from 6,332 units sold in 2012 to 9,197 in 2013; Audi more than doubled its sales volume from 1,414 to 3,102 units; and Subaru transformed itself from a non-entity with 53 units in 2012 to selling 1,084 units in 2013 thanks to introduction of the well-received Subaru XV CKD.

For reasons beyond our comprehension, Malaysia’s Competition Act prevents car makers from sharing breakdown of their sales figures by model, but MAA’s report today also included an attachment that highlights the sales of hybrid vehicles over the last two years. In total, some 18,974 hybrid vehicles were sold in 2013, a 23.6% increase from 2012, but with import and excise duty exemption for sub-2,000cc CBU hybrid and electric vehicles now withdrawn, overall sales of hybrid vehicles in 2014 will most certainly decline by significant margins.

Audi and Nissan emerged as the two biggest gainers of the brief hybrid incentive scheme, racking up sales of 1,907 and 2,015 units respectively. Audi’s numbers are obviously driven solely by the A6 Hybrid, but with Nissan’s numbers, it is unclear if sales of the Leaf and Infiniti M35h are included. The list does not include Infiniti, although Lexus and Toyota are mentioned as separate brands. Interestingly, Honda’s hybrid sales volume actually declined, albeit marginally, from 8,712 to 8,550 units despite continued aggressive campaigning of their hybrid models and introduction of the even more affordable Jazz Hybrid CKD.

BMW’s efforts at negotiating for a 50% reduction in duties for the ActiveHybrid 3 and ActiveHybrid 5 resulted in a grand total of four sales of hybrid-powered BMW vehicles. This grand total of four vehicles, by the way, also includes the AH 3 and AH 5 media test cars which we reviewed last year. In any case, BMW Group Malaysia did not bring in too many units of its hybrid vehicles and any interested takers can still purchase units held in stock at the duty-reduced price. Moving forward, the ActiveHybrid variants will be sold on a per order basis with full duties applicable.