KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 17): The sales tax exemption continued to serve as an incentive to buy passenger vehicles in November, with the country’s total sales rising 7.4% to 56,489 units, from 52,584 in the same month last year.  

Passenger vehicle sales accounted for 51,174 units or 90.6% of total sales during the month, while commercial vehicle sales stood at 5,315 units or 9.4%. 

Under the PENJANA economic recovery plan, the government introduced the exemption of sales tax for passenger cars for the period between June 15 and Dec 31 to boost new car sales. 

The incentive includes a 100% sales tax exemption for the purchase of locally-assembled cars (also referred to as completely knocked-down or CKD cars) and a 50% sales tax exemption for the purchase of imported cars (also referred to as completely built-up or CBU cars). 

Besides the sales tax exemption, new model launches during the month also contributed to the growth in vehicle sales in November, the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said in a statement today.  

MAA noted, however, that the November vehicle sales figure was marginally down by 0.3%, compared with 56,670 units in October. 

For the cumulative January-November period, total vehicle sales in Malaysia were still 17.24% lower at 454,708 units, compared with 549,439 in the same period last year. 

In terms of production, November saw an increase of 17.9% to 54,832 units, compared with 46,517 units in November 2019. 

Year to date, total vehicle production fell 18.7% to 429,326 units, from 527,945 units in the first 11 months of 2019. 

Moving forward, MAA expects the sales volume in December to be much higher than November, as the impetus from the sales tax exemption for passenger vehicles is expected to carry on.  

Besides that, the ongoing aggressive promotional campaigns by car companies is also expected to continue driving car sales in December.