KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 19): Malaysia's car sales dropped 26% year-on-year (y-o-y) in July this year due to the absence of a three-month tax holiday period.

The government had zero-rated the goods and services tax from June to August last year ahead of the transition to the sales and service tax regime, which had benefited consumers.

The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said a total of 50,853 vehicles were sold in July compared with 68,466 units a year ago.

However, on a monthly basis, overall sales of new vehicles increased by 20% or 8,327 units compared with June due to the longer working month.

On a segment basis, sales of new passenger vehicles fell 25% y-o-y in July to 46,189 units from 61,212 units, while sales of new commercial vehicles declined 36% y-o-y to 4,664 units from 7,254 units.

Overall production also fell 11% y-o-y in July to 48,912 units from 55,164 units.

Year to date (YTD), total vehicle sales fell by 3% to 347,187 vehicles from 358,065 vehicles in the corresponding period last year.

YTD passenger vehicle sales decreased by a marginal 2% y-o-y to 317,064 units from 322,135 units, while commercial vehicle sales declined 16% y-o-y to 30,123 units from 35,930 units.

In terms of the number of cars manufactured, MAA said YTD, total vehicle production dropped 0.65% y-o-y to 333,940 vehicles, from 336,111 vehicles a year ago.

On outlook for August, MAA expects performance to be maintained at July 2019 level.

Source: MAA