Malaysia’s Automobile Sales Results in YTD June 2021

In the first half of 2021, Malaysia’s automobile sales increased 43.6% year-on-year to 249,000 units. The sharp increase is due to new coronavirus restrictions during the same period of the previous year which lasted a month and a half. However, sales in the first six months of 2021 did not reach the 300,000-unit level of the same period in 2019. Full-year sales in 2021 is forecast by Malaysia’s automobile association MAA to drop 5.6% to 500,000 units compared to 2020 due to the reemergence of the virus which prompted Malaysian authorities to declare nationwide lockdown from June 2021.

Looking at sales by brand, the market share of Malaysia’s two national car manufacturers is 39.1% for Perodua and 22.6% for Proton, the two companies accounting for more than 60% of the market. With the addition of the Ativa, launched in March 2021, Perodua’s SUV sales went up 3.2 times to 21,000 units, total sales going up 31.2% to 97,000 units. Similarly, Proton’s sales were driven by the new SUV model X50, launched in October 2020, which sold 21,000 units, going up 3.1 times. Total sales of the automaker increased 52% to 56,000 units. Toyota captured third place by surpassing Honda, ascending 85.2% to 34,000 units and increasing market share to 13.5%. Honda, ranked fourth, went up 46% to 25,000 units. Mitsubishi took fifth position thanks to the launch of the Xpander in November 2020 which added 2,074 units to the automaker’s total sales.