Southeast Asia Auto Market: Malaysia's New Car Sales in September See Slight Increase

According to registration data released by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA), new car sales in Malaysia reached 58,490 units in September this year, a slight increase compared to 58,032 units in the same period last year. However, compared to August this year, new car sales in September decreased by 20%, mainly due to the reduced number of working days in September.

Bezza; Image source: Perodua

Preliminary estimates show that driven by strong domestic consumption, Malaysia's economy grew by 5.2% year-on-year in the third quarter, higher than the 4.4% growth in the second quarter. To support the domestic economy, Bank Negara Malaysia cut the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 2.75% in July—this is the first rate cut since the rate hike in April 2023.

From the overall performance in the first nine months of this year, Malaysia's new car sales fell 3% from last year's record high of 595,883 units to 579,336 units; among them, the sales of light passenger vehicles decreased by 2% to 536,122 units, while commercial vehicle sales plummeted by 14% to 43,214 units.

In terms of power type, in the first nine months of this year, Malaysia's pure...Electric vehicleSales surged by 70% year-on-year, reaching 26,928 vehicles. Among them, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD and its Denza brand sold a combined total of 9,122 vehicles. Malaysia's auto manufacturer Proton sold 6,212 units of its recently launched e.MAS 7 model. American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla sold a total of 3,846 vehicles. The strong sales of these brands and models have collectively driven significant growth in Malaysia's pure electric vehicle market.

MAA expects that in the fourth quarter of this year, Malaysia's pure electricCar salesThe strong momentum is expected to continue. On one hand, the Malaysian government plans to abolish tax exemptions for CBU vehicles by the end of this year, which may prompt consumers to purchase cars before the policy expires; on the other hand, the launch of year-end promotional activities will further boost sales.

In terms of car manufacturers, in the first nine months of this year, Malaysia's largest automaker Perodua saw its sales in the country decline by 2% year-on-year to 255,000 units, in line with the overall trend of the passenger car market. Its sales growth mainly relied on the support of popular compact cars such as Bezza and Axia.

In the first nine months of this year, Proton's global sales grew by 1% year-on-year, reaching 114,297 vehicles (with export volume soaring by 56% to 3,959 vehicles); among them, the Saga model once again became Proton's best-selling vehicle with sales of 50,734 units. Following closely is the X50 compact SUV, produced based on Geely's platform, with sales of 21,143 units—this model's new version was launched in July this year.

UMW Toyota Motor in Malaysia saw a slight decrease in sales by 4% year-on-year to 70,418 units in the first nine months of this year; its deliveries are mainly supported by fuel-efficient models such as the Corolla Cross Hybrid and Innova Zenix Hybrid.

In the first nine months of this year, Malaysia's total automobile production decreased by 7% year-on-year to 552,129 units.