KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 21): UMW Group reported a 20.4% increase in automotive sales in January 2022 to 24,972 units from 20,740 units in the same month last year as the company continues to meet its outstanding orderbook.

In a statement on Monday (Feb 21), the group said it has started 2022 on a strong footing as both UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) and UMW's associate company Perodua reported improved automotive sales in January.

UMWT nearly doubled its January 2022 sales to 7,528 units. This is 95.8% higher than the 3,845 units registered in the corresponding month of 2021, it said.

“Toyota Vios, Hilux and Yaris continue to be UMWT’s best-selling models in January. Expanding its product offering into the electrified vehicle space, UMWT launched the Toyota Corolla Cross on Jan 14, 2022, its first locally assembled Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) on the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) platform.

“UMWT believes that this will pave the way for the introduction of more HEVs and electric vehicles in Malaysia as consumers aspire towards a cleaner drive, which is evident from the encouraging orders received for the Corolla Cross HEV since it was open for booking in October 2021. It is also in line with the group’s goal to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2050,” said UMW.

Meanwhile, Perodua recorded sales of 17,444 units in January 2022, up 3.2% from 16,895 units in January 2021. Perodua aims to sell 247,800 units this year, up 30% from the 190,291 units sold in 2021.

The company plans to increase production to 265,900 vehicles this year while purchasing RM7.5 billion worth of locally sourced components in 2022 to support and strengthen the local automotive industry, said UMW.

UMW Holdings Bhd president and group chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Kenali said the group expects automotive sales growth to continue in the coming months, supported by the launch of exciting new models as well as the sales tax exemption.

The Malaysian Automobile Association forecasts that total industry volume (TIV) will increase by nearly 18% to 600,000 units by 2022. This is supported by projected gross domestic product growth of 5.5% to 6.5% in 2022, continued government support, and improving consumer confidence.

“Both UMWT and Perodua will continue to focus on introducing new and improved models and offer superior after-sales services to meet our customers’ requirements and expectations in order to achieve our targets in 2022,” Ahmad Fuaad added.

UMW Holdings’ shares slipped 0.65% or two sen at RM3.08 at the time of writing on Monday.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, UMWT announced the appointment of Takashi Obata as its new deputy chairman effective Feb 1, 2022.

The company said Obata has 30 years of experience in Toyota Motor Corp.

It said that as a key member in the company’s Product Planning in Sales & Operation Planning divisions, he has been in charge of the product planning of various Toyota-brand models for the global market, prior to his new role as deputy chairman.

Obata said technology is progressively evolving with the increasing necessity and responsibility to adapt to CASE (Connected cars, Autonomous driving, Shared, and Electric), as well as carbon neutrality.

"This is a priority that is aggressively being pursued by Toyota globally and has already started in Malaysia with the recent launch of the Toyota Corolla Cross hybrid model," he said.

At RM3.08, the group had a market capitalisation of RM3.6 billion.