New car sales above MIDF’s expectation

KUALA LUMPUR: New vehicle sales may have eased year-onyear last month but the year-todate volume is still above analyst expectations.

MIDF Research said the 3.9 per cent growth in total industry volume (TIV) to 384,734 units in the first eight months was still well above its full-year forecast growth of 2.7 per cent (596,000 units).

It expects further upside to its target, but this would very much depend on the build-up to the year-end sales campaigns.

Toyota launched four facelifted models and additional variants for the Vios, Camry, Fortuner, Hilux and Innova, mostly this month.

Mazda is expected to launch new-generation CX5 within the next two weeks, with most of the sales numbers to trickle in next month.

“We think a big launch would be Perodua’s new MyVi in the fourth quarter of the year. These launches could stimulate further strength into the quarter,” said MIDF Research in a report yesterday.

Reviewing the TIV last month, it said it had recovered 6.5 per cent month-on-month to 51,720 units, given spillover deliveries from July that was impacted by a glitch in the online registration system.

On a year-on-year basis, TIV was down slightly by one per cent year-on-year, but this is off an exceptionally high base in August last year, which captured the initial response to Perodua’s Bezza.

“August was one of only two months (the other being December) in the second half of last year, which saw monthly TIV exceed 50,000 units.

“The improvement in sequential sales was across the board except for Perodua, which saw a one per cent month-on-month contraction and a 12 per cent year-on-year decline,” said MIDF Research.