PETALING JAYA: Vehicle sales for the first half of the year (1H21) increased by 43.6% or 249,129 units compared with the same period last year, the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said today.
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MAA president Aishah Ahmad said the increase was mainly due to the sales tax exemption provided under the economic stimulus package, lower loan interest rates, and the introduction of new models.
Despite the overall increase for 1H21, Aisyah said the total industry volume (TIV) for a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis showed a sharp decline in sales, especially in June.
She said only 1,921 units of vehicles were sold in June, compared with 47,204 units in May, a huge drop of 96%. The sales for June last year stood at 44,755 units.
She said this was mainly due to the total lockdown imposed from June 1 to curb the spike in Covid-19 cases.
“As a result of the pandemic and the restrictions imposed on most social and business activities, the sales of motor vehicles were badly affected during the period under review,” she said in an online press conference today.
She noted that the total industry production (TIP) for this year was consistently higher compared with the same period in 2020, with the exception of June this year due to the pandemic restrictions.
June’s TIP dropped to 276 units, from 42,536 units in May. The TIP for June last year was 45,044 units.
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“This huge drop was mainly due to the closure of most motor assembly plants.
“Shortage of computer chips also impacted the production of cars,” she said.
MMA urged the government to ease the restrictions on the industry and allow it to resume operations with strict SOPs.
“For now, production plants, showrooms, and sales rooms are not allowed to operate. If this continues, many dealers, especially the small ones, cannot survive.”
On the outlook, she said MAA projected sales volume for 2021 to be lower than last year.
The association revised its sales forecast to 500,000 units this year, compared with 570,00 units in its original forecast. The sales volume of 2020 stood at 529,434.-FMT