New car sales in Malaysia rose significantly by 31 per cent for the month of February. After strong figures in 2024, experts expect the country’s total industry volume (TIV) to stabilise this year. Sales from last January, however, started off the year with weak figures.
REBOUND SALES
After a 27 per cent downturn in January sales, the Malaysian car market picked up from in February with 63,906 units sold. “The increase reflects a positive recovery in the automotive industry after a period of slower sales at the beginning of the year,” said the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA). The MAA is responsible for releasing the statistics of Malaysia’s car market.
While monthly comparisons show growth, the country’s TIV fell by 2 per cent on-year. The MAA noted that the country’s auto market is stabilising after its weak start in the new year. Meanwhile, January’s notably low sales were a result of a shorter working month due to the Chinese New Year holidays.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Road Transport Department (JPJ) collated the country’s top performing brands in car registrations for February. According to their figures, Malaysia’s own Perodua and Proton occupied the top two spots. Perodua leads the ranking with 31,382 vehicles and a 38.3 per cent increase compared to the previous month. Proton follows behind with 11,068 units, also seeing an increase in registrations compared to January. Perodua’s 2025 registrations so far amounted to 54,627 units, more than double of Proton’s 20,756 vehicles registered.
Trailing behind the Malaysian brands are two of Japan’s auto giants, Toyota and Honda. Toyota’s monthly difference is only a small margin. Last month, the Japanese auto maker registered 7,570 units—just slightly lower than February’s 7,837 units registered. Honda shows a similar figure for the month of February with 7,228 units registered. However, its difference from last month’s registrations of 3,638 units surged by almost 50 per cent.
A similar increase is evident in Jaecoo’s registrations. From a small figure of only 792 vehicles registered last January, the Korean brand saw a surge in sales that amounted to 1,684 units registered. Surprisingly, Jaecoo took the fifth spot on the JPJ’s ranking and overtook the likes of Mitsubishi, Chery, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.
Another notable uptick can be seen in Tesla’s registrations. The American EV maker registered only 13 EVs in January but suddenly sold 443 vehicles this February. Though Tesla’s performance improved significantly, they are still eclipsed by BYD in the foreign EV market. BYD registered 505 EVs in January and improved to 634 EVs registered the following month.
A STABILISING MARKET
So far, the January – February period for 2025 is at a decline on-year. Sales of this period have shrunk by over 14 per cent, from 131,928 units to 113,056 units. Passenger vehicle sales also fell 12 per cent on-year, only amounting to 105,943 units sold. Commercial vehicle sales plummet further by 35 per cent on-year, with only 7,122 units sold. Finally, battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales performed best with a sharp incline of 58 per cent. This increase can be attributed to the Proton e.MAS 7, Malaysia’s first EV, which was sold starting last December 2024. Of the 3,581 BEVs sold for Jan – Feb 2025, 2,249 of these units were the hybrid vehicles.
2024 was a record-breaking year for Malaysia’s car sales with over 800,000 units sold nationwide. Experts predict that the country’s TIV will contract to 780,000 units by year-end. Though the MAA expects a decrease for total year sales, the association predicts that sales for March 2025 will be even higher than that of February’s. The MAA attributes this prediction to customer demand for vehicle deliveries before the Hari Raya Eid’l Fitr holidays. Additionally, manufacturers will be keen to clear out stock before the end of the fiscal year on March 31.
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