KUALA LUMPUR: After a plunge in sales in June and July due to the restrictions under the Movement Control Order (MCO), the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) has turned more optimistic for August as showroom in many states are allowed to open.
The MAA, whose members have around 1,300 dealers throughout the country, said on Monday it expected August sales to be higher compared with July as key states such as Selangor and Kuala Lumpur could reopen.
However, the MAA said the showrooms had to fulfill the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and it also hinged on the Covd-19 vaccination rates of the employees.
Car dealers posted total losses of more than RM14bil in June and July due to sharp plunge in sales of vehicles in the domestic market following the MCO, the MAA said.
For July, the total industry volume fell by 87.9% to 7,086 units from 58,878 units a year ago.
Passenger vehicle sales plunged to 4,949 units from 53,415 a year ago. As for commercial vehicles, it fell to 2,137 units from 5,463 units.
Year-to-date, sales volume until July was 10.2% higher at 256,215 units compared with 232,424 units in the previous corresponding period.
On a month-on-month basis, total industry volume for July 2021 was 270% higher at 7,086 units compared with June’s sales of 1,921 units.
The MAA said sales mainly came from Sabah and Sarawak where showrooms are allowed to operate under National Recovery Plan Phase 2.
It added there was very minimal sales via online registration.
It said as for production, output tumbled by 94.1% to 2,775 units (2,396 passenger vehicles and 379 commercial vehicles) from 47,630 units a year ago.
On a year-to-date basis, total production was up by 14.2% to 244,063 units (226,168 passenger vehicles and 11,678 commercial vehicles) from the 213,680 units in the previous corresponding period.
