KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 19): Malaysia’s vehicle sales rose 26.37% to 56,444 units in September, from 44,666 units in the same month last year, following ongoing promotional activities by car manufacturers. 

In a statement, the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said sales in the month were also 7% higher than the 52,800 units registered in August. 

In addition, September’s sales volume is the second-highest monthly sales figure recorded so far this year, the MAA said in the statement. 

Passenger vehicle sales accounted for 51,422 units sold during the month, while commercial vehicles sales stood at 4,399 units.  

Year to date (YTD), total vehicle sales stood at 341,489 units, down 22.91% from the 442,985 vehicles registered in the corresponding cumulative nine months last year (9M19). 

The association said the rise in sales in September was due to greater promotional activities by car manufacturers as well as higher production during the month. 

In terms of production, the month saw an increase of 15.26% to 51,987 units, compared with 45,101 units in September 2019. YTD, total vehicle production fell 25.79% to 315,863 units from 425,653 units in 9M19. 

For October, the MAA expects the sales volume to be lower than what was seen in September, following the implementation of the conditional movement control order (CMCO) in Sabah, Labuan, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and also due to “consumers being cautious about the ending of the loan moratorium on Sept 30, 2020”.