by FAYYADH JAAFAR / pic by TMR FILE 

MALAYSIA’S new vehicle sales surged 43% to 63,489 units in October 2021 compared to 44,275 units sold in September this year.

The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) in a monthly statement yesterday revealed the stronger recovery in sales in October was attributed to a full and longer month of business operations nationwide.

MAA added companies also ramped up production and deliveries of vehicles to fulfil backlog orders.

This was the second time the monthly TIV exceeded the 60,000 units mark (TIV in March 2021 was 64,875 units).

There were 56,881 passenger vehicles (PV) sold in October, whereas last year there were 52,806.

While 6,608 commercial vehicles (CV) sold in October 2021, which was 35% higher than the October 2020 figure of 4,889.

MAA predicts sales in November 2021 would be maintained at October level largely driven by year end promotional campaigns to spur sales.

On the production side, there were 61,248 PV produced in the month compared to 55,063 produced in October last year.

4,162 CV were produced in October 2021, up from 3,568 last year.

In total, 65,410 units were produced, a 12% increase from October 2020. The production figure was however 1% lower on a year-to-date basis year-on-year.