New Vehicle Sales Volume Drops For First Month of 2023

Piston.my

New Vehicle Sales And Production Volumes Drop For First Month of 2023

Not surprisingly, after the record Total Industry Volume (TIV) of December 2022 with 76,657 units of new vehicles delivered nationwide, the TIV for January 2023 dipped by 35% to 49,461 units. This consisted of 43,927 units of passenger vehicles (excluding pick-up trucks) and 5,534 units of commercial vehicles (including pick-up trucks).

The decline was partly due to the short sales month as there was the Chinese New Year festive season with long holidays. The big push to close sales for 2022 with promotions by many companies also persuaded many customers to make their purchases in December.

However, it should also be noted that the industry continues to be delivering vehicles for outstanding orders, some as far back as the middle of 2022. Production disruptions due to shortage of parts, particularly microprocessors, had reduced supply of new vehicles from the local assembly plants as well as from factories overseas.

Production stabilized during the fourth quarter of 2022 and this was reflected in the increasing monthly registrations. Nevertheless, many of the vehicles delivered (especially for high-volume brands like Perodua and Proton) were for orders made many months earlier.

Until March 31, 2023, many companies are still supplying new vehicles to those customers who booked before June 30, 2022 and are entitled to sales tax exemption. The government had allowed an extension of time for deliveries to be made after the expiry of the exemption in view of the industry facing production difficulties.

Data source: Monthly reports of Malaysian Automotive Association

While the push at the assembly plants to complete as many vehicles as possible was apparent by the monthly increase in volumes during the final quarter of 2022, output in January 2023 dropped by 15% compared to the December volume of 68,881 units.

The long holiday break for the Chinese New Year holidays was partly the reason for the decrease, although some companies report shortages of parts for some models. Just one part not being available means that the vehicle cannot be completed for delivery.

With demand for commercial vehicles expected to rise and businesses start to move forward more positively, output of commercial vehicles rose was 10% higher in January 2023 compared to the same month in 2022.