February 2023 vehicle sales up by 26 percent over previous month, slew of new models could see TIV revised

Vehicle sales for February 2023 recorded a 26 percent increase over the previous month’s numbers, coming in at 62,649 units over January 2023’s figures of 49,461 units.

Although very much early in the year, the upward trend so far coupled with the upcoming introduction of new or updated models from mainstream brands could indicate that the cautious total industry volume (TIV) forecasted by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) might need to be revised to a higher figure.

The MAA predicts a TIV for 2023 of 650,000 units, a hair’s width under 10 percent lower than 2022.

Also Read: January 2023 car sales sets a promising pace for the year, 19 percent higher than the corresponding period last year

Despite that, the sale figures seem to disagree. Apart from the 26 percent climb in February 2023 over the previous month, the figures are equally impressive when lined up against the corresponding month from 2022.

The 62,649 units for February 2023 mark a 39 percent increase over February 2022 sales of 45,062 units.

Also Read: MAA: 720k cars sold in Malaysia in 2022, 41% up from 2021; Forecasting 10% less for 2023

Accordingly, the year-to-date figures for the year have climbed by 29 percent from 86,595 units (2022) to 112,128 units (2023).

According to the MAA, the promising jump in numbers can be attributed to the ongoing rush by carmakers to fulfil a massive backlog of orders accumulated during the SST-exemption period.

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Looking forward to the following month, the MAA expects the upward trend in sales to continue for March 2023 and will be higher than February 2023 as well.

They attribute it to a number of factors, chief among which are:

• rush for deliveries by companies having their financial year ending on 31 March 2023
• Hari Raya festive season promotional campaigns
• fulfilment of bookings made during the SST-exemption period