As of October, UMWT sold 43,807 units and is on track to achieve its revised sales target of 53,000 units for the year

by RAHIMI YUNUS / pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

UMW Holdings Bhd is optimistic to achieve the sales target of its automotive segment given improved sales volume by UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd (UMWT) and its 38%-associate company Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) in October.

The group’s automotive market share is estimated at 58% in October, an increase from 51.4% from 51.4% in 2019, driven by the sales tax exemption provided by the government.

The company said the tax incentives, which are effective from June 15 to Dec 31, has helped to lift sales in the second half of the year (2H20).

UMWT sold 6,468 units in October 2020, up 15.4% from the 5,605 units it delivered in September. The top sales contributors for the month were Toyota Vios, Yaris and Hilux.

As of October, UMWT sold 43,807 units and is on track to achieve its revised sales target of 53,000 units for the year.

Perodua broke its monthly sales record in October with a total registration of 26,852 units, a 7.3% increase from the 25,035 units in September.

Malaysia’s top carmaker delivered 171,864 vehicles in the January-October period, which was 81.8% of its 210,000 units targets for the year.

UMW said Perodua’s two plants have been running almost at its maximum capacity since August in order to meet the strong demand.

“The group has managed to stage a strong recovery in 2H20, thanks to the sales tax exemption implemented by the government to boost the local automotive industry following disruptions caused by Covid-19.

“We are confident the strong sales momentum would sustain until the end of the year for us to achieve our sales targets for the year,” president and group CEO Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Kenali said in a statement yesterday.

UMWT announced the launch of the newly revised Toyota Yaris on Nov 2 and opened its order books for registration.

The Yaris was launched as a completely knocked-down model back in April 2019 and has been consistently ranked first in the non-national hatchback segment.

With further enhancement of the model’s design and features, UMW is confident the vehicle will maintain its market leadership in the segment.

Separately, UMW announced on the exchange yesterday the appointment of Farnida Ngah as its new group CFO with effect from Nov 9.

Farnida has over 20 years of experience in a broad range of industries including media, telecommunication, plantation, oil and gas, property development, transportation and manufacturing.

She spent 10 years of her career in Big Four accounting firms including six years at PricewaterhouseCoopers and four years at KPMG.

Vehicle sales in Malaysia jumped 26% to 56,444 vehicles in September this year from 44,666 units in the same month last year, according to the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) data.

Sales of passenger vehicles climbed to 51,422 units in September from 40,267 in September 2019 and sales of commercial vehicles also increased to 5,022 from 4,399.

On a month-on-month basis, sales volume for September rose 7% from August 2020.

MAA anticipated that sales volume in October may be lower than that in September due to the implementation of the Conditional Movement Control Order and cautious consumer spending following the end of the loan moratorium on Sept 30.

Proton Holdings Bhd continued its upward sales momentum for the fifth consecutive month with a sales growth of 20% in October to 11,392 units.

The national marque, however, saw a volume contraction of 4.6% as compared to September.

To date, Proton sold 84,999 units, which was 6.2% more than last year and equivalent to an estimated 21.3% of the market share.