September car sales dip

By KEVIN WONG

Total automotive sales continued to dip in September, with total volume reported at 10,739 units, 20.8% lower than the figure in August.

The Malaysian Automotive Association’s (MAA) latest report stated that both passengers and commercial vehicles registered a total sale of 40,981 units last month, which was a 0.85% decrease from the total of 48,125 units sold in the previous year’s corresponding period.

Of the total, 36,517 units were from the passenger vehicle segment, while the remaining 4,464 units were contributed by the commercial vehicles.

MAA’s statement said that the short working month of September had somehow attributed to the drop in sales.

The more stringent approval process for hire-purchase loans was another factor to the drop in volume for the month of September.

Despite the continuous drop in sales, the total industry period-to-period volume for year-to-date (YTD) of September 2017 has increased by 1.8% from 418,277 to 425,711 units.

Production for the industry in September declined as only 38,213 units were produced in comparison to 41,453 units in the corresponding period last year, representing a 0.92% decrease.

Passenger vehicles contributed the majority of production at 35,177, while production of commercial vehicles rolled out 3,036 units. YTD, production fell by 0.99% to 381,171 units.