PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) has maintained its Total Industry Volume (TIV) forecast of 600,000 units for 2019, despite the subdued economic outlook in the second half of the year.
MAA president Datuk Aishah Ahmad (pix) said that consumers and businesses are very cautious in their spending due to expectations of economic uncertainties extending into the second half of 2019, while stringent hire purchase lending rules are expected to remain.
However, she said the introduction of new models with latest additional specifications and design at competitive prices as well as aggressive promotional campaigns by car companies would help sustain the buying interest.
“The cut in the overnight policy rate (OPR) to 3% from 3.25% as well as the revival of major infrastructure projects such as East Coast Rail Link that was previously cancelled or deferred would support the Malaysian economy to pick-up steadily in the near and long term,” she said at a press conference today.
MAA had earlier forecasted a TIV of 600,000 units for 2019, which is a marginal growth of 0.21% from last year’s TIV of 598,714 units. It expects TIV to grow 2% to 612,000 units in 2020.
“The reduced 0.21% volume growth is attributed to a much higher performance in 2018 due to the tax holiday,“ said Aishah.
In the first half of the year, MAA reported a new motor vehicle TIV of 296,334 units, a 2.3% increase from 289,334 units recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year. This makes up 49.4% of its 2019 forecast of 600,000 units.
The increase in TIV was contributed by the passenger vehicles segment, which rose 3.8% while commercial vehicles segment registered a decline of 11.2%.
Except for February and June 2019, the year-on-year vehicles sales trend was consistently higher for the first half of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018.
In June, the association reported that Malaysia’s vehicle sales declined by 34% to 42,526 units from 64,456 units recorded in the same month of the previous year. It attributed the decline to post-Raya working holidays and short working month.
Moving forward, it expects the sales volume in July 2019 to be higher compared to the previous month.
However, the sales volume is expected to be lower compared to the corresponding period of the previous year due to the zero rated goods and services tax in July 2018.
