March 2022 vehicle sales are 62.5 percent higher than month before, exceeds target for Q1

• sales growth by 62.5 percent over February 2022
• exceeds Q1 target, on track to meet TIV of 600,000 units
• April 2022 sales expected to drop due to chip and component shortage

It appears that vehicle sales in the country for the first quarter of 2022 may have been running an extremely laggy turbo with sales climbing extremely slowly before full boost kicked in for the month of March 2022 that saw sales grow by a massive 62.5 percent of the preceding month.

The total number of sales for March 2022 clocks in at 73,222 units against the 43,722 units sold in February 2022 as well as 12.8 percent higher over the corresponding period in 2021.

Also Read: Vehicle sales in Feb 2022 has begun to show signs of recovery, 8 percent higher than Jan

This surge in sales can be attributed to a number of reasons according to the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA); chief amongst which was the aggressive push for higher sales by companies as their financial year ends on 31 March 2022.

Furthermore, March is a longer working month over February and the units brought in during those extra days cannot be ignored.

Previous reports have also confirmed that a number of car companies have recorded a huge surge in sales for March 2022, which all but confirms the significant growth.

Also Read: Vehicle sales took a hit in January 2022 with a drop of 44 percent but don’t you worry

In fact, March 2022 was a national sales record for Isuzu Malaysia, marking the company’s best-ever sales month since its inception in 2005.

Perodua and Proton as well recorded sales growth compared to the previous month by over 40 percent.

Also Read: Buoyed by Saga and X70, Proton's March 2022 sales surpasses 13k units, 41% up from Feb

All this translates into sales of 159,752 units for Q1 of 2022 and places the industry well on track for the the targeted Total Industry Volume of 600,000 units for the year.

However, on a more solemn note, the industry isn’t expecting the trend of sales growth to carry on into April 2022. The MAA reckons the shortage of chips and components as well as delays in shipments may affect some companies.

Also Read: Isuzu sold a whole lot of the D-Max here in March 2022; an all-time sales record for the company

Production figures for March 2022 clocked inn at 58,908 units, representing a bump up of 14.8 percent over the 51,219 units produced in February 2022. This could very well be due to carmakers rushing to meet deliveries of orders before the SST exemption ends on 30 June 2022.