KUALA LUMPUR (April 14): Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) saw a 17.4% decline in its car sales to almost 47,200 units for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 (1Q16) from the 57,200 units registered in the same quarter last year.

In a statement today, Perodua said its sales for March 2016, amounting to 17,300 units, was also 22.8% less than the 22,400 units it sold in the same month last year.

Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Aminar Rashid Salleh said Perodua had registered higher sales in 1Q15 due to the pre-goods and services tax (GST) buying rush before the consumption tax came into force on April 1, 2015.

"We estimated that the total industry volume (TIV) in March 2016 fell by 29% to 47,700 from 67,300 units in the same month last year, and this has resulted in Perodua's market share increasing to 37.1% in March this year.

"Based on our internal research, we can deduce that the decrease in TIV was due to the slower pace of the economy, the increase in vehicle prices by some of the players due to a softer ringgit and the lingering effects of the GST," Aminar added.

Perodua also said it captured 36.3% of the estimated TIV of 130,000 in 1Q16, led by its latest best-selling model, the Perodua Axia.

However, Aminar pointed out that the TIV numbers shared were based on Perodua's internal research, and are subject to the official figures from the Malaysia Automotive Association (MAA).

As for its after-sales business, Perodua saw 515,343 intakes for 1Q16, a 7% increase from 481,627 intakes in 1Q15.

Revenue of parts including accessories rose 4% to RM65 million in 1Q16 from RM62.5 million a year ago.

Perodua also produced lower number of cars in 1Q16, 48,300 units against 60,100 units in 1Q15. It attributed the lower production to some carry-over stock from 2015 as well as the slower pace of the economy in the first quarter.

On exports, Aminar said the carmaker will gradually increase its numbers, particularly with the recent launch of the Myvi and Alza in Brunei.

"For 1Q16, we have exported 1,600 vehicles to six countries, which is an increase of 55.8% from 1,030 vehicles in the same quarter last year.

"We aim to steadily grow our regional reach as we further improve our operations to become globally competitive," he said.

However, Aminar said the impact of a stronger US dollar to the ringgit and the company's sales volume mix continue to be a big challenge when it comes to meeting profit targets.

"While we are glad to improve our market share, a bigger ratio of our sales is coming from the lower variants of our models, which enjoy smaller margins, hence the impact to our bottom line.

"Moving forward, while there seems to be signs of economic improvement with the increase in price of crude oil plus the strengthening of the ringgit against other currencies and in particular the US dollar, we are of the opinion that it is still too early to be optimistic," said Aminar.

He said the company will continue to monitor the situation, but at this point it is cautiously optimistic that it will be able to achieve its key targets, particularly the sales target of 216,000 units by year end.