by NUR HANANI AZMAN / pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

THE sales of new vehicles in Malaysia rose 22% to 40,581 units in January 2022 from 33,392 units registered in 2021, according to the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).

MAA said of the total, passenger vehicles (PV) accounted for 33,668 units and commercial vehicles (CV) comprised 6,913 units.

“The total industry volume (TIV) for January 2022 was 38% lower than December 2021, which was at 65,184 units.

“TIV in December 2021 was very high due to year-end promotional campaigns by automotive companies and also because customers had brought forward in December 2021,” it said in a statement.

MAA added that the supply chain disruptions caused by floods in certain parts of Klang Valley and east coast in December 2021 resulted in lower stocks for certain makes in January 2022.

In terms of total production, 42,961 vehicles were produced in January 2022 compared with 39,666 units in January 2021. It consists of 39,455 PV and 3,506 CV.

On outlook for February 2022, MAA expects TIV to remain at the current level due to the short working month as well as the supply chain disruptions due to recent floods and on-going semiconductor chip shortages.