[ad_1]
The 2020 Total Industry Volume (TIV) forecast of 607,000 units made by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) last January may have sounded cautious, offering only modest growth from the 604,287 units achieved in 2019, but perfectly achievable. .
Of course, the arrival of a virus ended the best-laid plans, although the final result was far from the big setback that was projected in May, when the forecast was revised down by a third to 400,000 units.
The introduction of the SST exemption on CKD and CBU new car sales in June, which will run through December, led the association to believe that the numbers would improve by 470,000 units. In the end, it topped that comfortably, with the reported TIV for the year ending at 529,434 units.
Nonetheless, the shortfall of 74,853 units from the prior year meant that most brands inevitably failed to match the numbers seen in 2019. Here’s a quick breakdown of how brands performed in 2020.
Perodua, which has led the market since 2006, remained in the first position despite a drop in sales of 8.4% last year. The automaker managed to sell 220,163 units, which was 20,178 units less than the 240,341 cars it sold the previous year.
While it is below its initial 2020 forecast of 240,000 units, the final 2020 total surpassed the revised projection of 210,000 units it revealed in August. Surprisingly, while the overall market contracted, the national automaker managed to increase its market share from 39.8% in 2019 to 41.6% last year.
Proton finished second again, which had every reason to be pleased with the way 2020 played out. It was one of the few passenger car brands to gain traction in terms of sales, the 108,524 units it changed last year was 8,341 units more than the 100,183 units it drove in 2019.
While the 8.4% improvement is not a huge leap like the one achieved in 2019, where it posted a 54.7% increase in sales compared to 2018, the fact that it managed to post higher numbers in a year back is testament to the fact that buyers are coming back to the brand in droves.
The company also had the honor of being the highest winner last year, and its market share increased to 20.5% from 16.6%. A little extra trivia for those in numbers and percentages: Perodua and Proton now control a 60% (62.1%, to be precise) share of the market, the highest since 2003.
Honda maintained its third place, its 60,468 units good enough to keep it ahead of Toyota (58,501 units), but the brand sold 24,950 units (or 29.2%) less than in 2019. Nissan sales also fell to 14,160 units, 33.3 less. % from the previous year. Naturally, all three brands saw their market share decrease.
The few winners included Mazda (12,141 units) and Mitsubishi (9,163 units), with the managed figures representing an increase of 4.2% and 12.6%, respectively. On the other hand, Subaru (-57.3%), Peugeot (-45.4%) and Kia (-77.9%) suffered significant drops, and brands such as Volkswagen (-39.2%) and Hyundai (-37 , 9%) also had a very mild year.
When it comes to premium brands, Volvo was the only major player in the segment to register a green arrow: it managed to sell 1,950 cars last year, 3.6% more than the 1,883 units sold in 2019. The table also finally shows BMW ( and MINI) year numbers. The brand had said last year that it had switched to a quarterly report, but the numbers had remained stagnant well past half the year.
Also, while the table shows very striking numbers in red for Mercedes-Benz, it’s worth noting that the company stopped reporting its numbers after the first quarter of last year, so its total holds up thereafter. The final number of cars sold by the brand remains undisclosed.
How will the market fare this year? Well, while there seems to be no end in sight to the pandemic at this time, the MAA is optimistic that the market will rebound in 2021. The association has confidently predicted that the TIV will rise this year by almost 8% to 570,000 units. with growth greatly aided by the SST waiver running through June 30.
[ad_2]
