As Malaysia continues its recovery from the depressed years of the pandemic, new vehicle sales are also growing. Last year’s record Total Industry Volume of 720,658 units – the highest ever since the Malaysian Automotive Association began keeping records in 1967 – already indicated the upward trend.
While the commercial vehicle segment’s share remained at 11%, the total number of vehicles sold rose (compared to 2021) by 39.9% or 22,488 units to reach 78,885 units. Within this segment, Isuzu Malaysia Sdn Bhd (IMSB) again topped the list of brands with combined retail sales of 6,546 units, including light, medium and prime mover trucks.
It was the highest ever volume in the company’s history while capturing the market-leading position again as Malaysia’s top-selling truck brand for the 9th consecutive time and also the top-selling light-duty truck for the 13th time.
“All of us at Isuzu Malaysia are extremely honoured and privileged to have retained the top spot in the country’s competitive truck market continuously year after year. The total number of truck sales we recorded for 2022 was a historic and unprecedented success, and which outperformed our previous record of 6,391 units of sale in 2015 by 155 units or 2.43%,” said Isuzu Malaysia’s CEO, Shunsuke Okazoe.
“The Isuzu brand have been dominating the market for many consecutive years and much of that strength comes from our light-duty ELF trucks. However, in the middle of last year, we further made a significant impression with the entry of the new generation Isuzu GIGA truck range, comprising the C and E series in 5 new models for high-demand customers in the heavy-duty and prime mover segment,” he said.
“These new generation trucks, which emphasized reliability, aerodynamic design and higher performance for increased efficiency, have captured the interest of our customers and proved to be a promising business contributor. This had further strengthened the Isuzu brand and enabled us to record an outstanding overall sale figure last year,” Mr. Okazoe explained.
Despite the market’s promising recovery phase after battling the negative effects of the global pandemic, IMSB’s managed to remain resilient and continued to stay on top of the curve. “Several crucial elements that we have executed well have definitely ensured the stability of our competitive edge,” Mr. Okazoe said.
He highlighted the extensive and close rapport in the dealership network as definitely being one of the important factors. “Our dealership network is, in fact, the largest from a truck brand with 48 centres spread across every state and at strategic locations in Malaysia to deliver quality products and technical expertise and services to all our customers,” said Mr. Okazoe.
The global pandemic had also caused supply chain problems like labour shortage, parts inventory delay and fluctuation in sales, deeply impacting the automakers sector and logistics industry as a whole. IMSB was not spared from these challenges. Nevertheless, it was able to overcome long-term or major obstacles as a result of well-coordinated efforts between key stakeholders, especially with Isuzu Hicom Malaysia which assembles its vehicles at the plant in Pekan, Pahang.
IMSB also rolled out several strategic initiatives such as partnering with new dealers, opening of new centres, and introducing new models such as the new generation Giga trucks. “These efforts are important as Malaysia is a key market for Isuzu and we take pride in having been operating here for over 19 years, contributing to the logistics sector and the economy of the country,” said Mr. Okazoe.
