KUALA LUMPUR (March 17): Sales of passenger cars in February rose 14.2% to 38,881 units from 34,054 units in the same month last year, said industry group Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).
On a month-on-month basis, however, MAA said sales of passenger vehicles dropped 3.5% from the 40,294 units it clocked in January.
Cumulative sales of passenger vehicles for both January and February grew 7% to 79,175 units from 73,996 in the same period last year.
Including commercial vehicles, the total vehicles sold in the country — also referred to as total industry volume — came in at 42,455 units in February 2017, up 12.1% from 37,874 units in February last year.
| VEHICLE SALES FOR FEBRUARY 2017 | ||||||
| Segment | February | Year-to-date February | ||||
| 2017 | 2016 | Variance | 2017 | 2016 | Variance | |
| PV (Passenger vehicles) | 38,881 | 34,054 | 1.14 | 79,175 | 73,996 | 1.07 |
| CV (Commercial vehicles) | 3,574 | 3,820 | 0.94 | 7,947 | 8,467 | 0.94 |
| Total | 42,455 | 37,874 | 1.12 | 87,122 | 82,463 | 1.06 |
Source: Malaysian Automotive Association
On a month-to-month basis, however, total vehicles sold in February dropped 5% from 44,667 units recorded last month.
"The reason sales volume in February 2017 was 5% or 2,212 units lower than January 2017 was due to the short working month, while market conditions remain unchanged," MAA said in a media statement this evening.
Year to date, MAA said total volume of vehicles sold till February this year rose 5.65% to 87,122 units from 82,463 units in the same period last year.
On outlook, MAA said it "expects sales volume for March 2017 to be better than February 2017 level".
The industry group said this is due to longer working month in March as compared to February, while car companies will continue to offer attractive packages.