Xinhua, Kuala Lumpur :
Malaysia’s automotive total industry volume (TIV) growth this year is expected to remain lackluster at 2 percent to 3 percent, as the country’s consumers stay cautious in new cars spending ahead the 14th general election (GE14).
“We lower our 2018 TIV forecast by 2 percent to 595,000 units (an annual growth of 3 percent) after taking into account the weak demand in February and a likely wait-and-see approach by consumers for big ticket item purchases before the GE14,” said Maybank Investment Bank Research analyst Ivan Yap in a report Wednesday.
Despite encouraging response for recent new launches, such as Malaysian national car Perodua Myvi, and foreign car Mazda CX-5, he believed the overall demand remains soft.
He noted that major marques with no significant model launches recently, such as another national car Proton, foreign cars Toyota and Honda, have seen annual contraction in sales in February.
“Our revised 2018 TIV forecast is based on our in-house 2018 real economic growth forecast of 5.3 percent. We expect TIV growth in 2018 to be back loaded on likely improvement of consumer sentiment post-GE14,” he added.
Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) reported Monday that February
TIV fell 4.4 percent year-on-year or 9 percent month-on-month to 40,578 units. The fall may partly attributed to the shorter working month due to the Chinese New Year festive holidays,
For the period January to February, the TIV dropped 2.3 percent year-on-year to 85,153 units.
CIMB Research analyst Mohd Shanaz Noor Azam also projected a tepid 2 percent TIV growth in 2018, driven by stronger sales in the passenger vehicle segment from both domestic (+2 percent) and foreign (+3 percent) brands.
He projected commercial vehicle segment sales to continue to slide in this year due to weak demand for pick-up trucks.
HongLeong Investment Bank analyst Daniel Wong also maintained its 2018 TIV forecast at 588,100 units (an annual growth of 2 percent), supported by the new model launches and normalized impact from Malaysian Central Bank tighter lending guideline.
Underpinned by the new Myvi model, Perodua has successfully grown its market share to 40.9 percent as of February.
Malaysia’s automotive total industry volume (TIV) growth this year is expected to remain lackluster at 2 percent to 3 percent, as the country’s consumers stay cautious in new cars spending ahead the 14th general election (GE14).
“We lower our 2018 TIV forecast by 2 percent to 595,000 units (an annual growth of 3 percent) after taking into account the weak demand in February and a likely wait-and-see approach by consumers for big ticket item purchases before the GE14,” said Maybank Investment Bank Research analyst Ivan Yap in a report Wednesday.
Despite encouraging response for recent new launches, such as Malaysian national car Perodua Myvi, and foreign car Mazda CX-5, he believed the overall demand remains soft.
He noted that major marques with no significant model launches recently, such as another national car Proton, foreign cars Toyota and Honda, have seen annual contraction in sales in February.
“Our revised 2018 TIV forecast is based on our in-house 2018 real economic growth forecast of 5.3 percent. We expect TIV growth in 2018 to be back loaded on likely improvement of consumer sentiment post-GE14,” he added.
Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) reported Monday that February
TIV fell 4.4 percent year-on-year or 9 percent month-on-month to 40,578 units. The fall may partly attributed to the shorter working month due to the Chinese New Year festive holidays,
For the period January to February, the TIV dropped 2.3 percent year-on-year to 85,153 units.
CIMB Research analyst Mohd Shanaz Noor Azam also projected a tepid 2 percent TIV growth in 2018, driven by stronger sales in the passenger vehicle segment from both domestic (+2 percent) and foreign (+3 percent) brands.
He projected commercial vehicle segment sales to continue to slide in this year due to weak demand for pick-up trucks.
HongLeong Investment Bank analyst Daniel Wong also maintained its 2018 TIV forecast at 588,100 units (an annual growth of 2 percent), supported by the new model launches and normalized impact from Malaysian Central Bank tighter lending guideline.
Underpinned by the new Myvi model, Perodua has successfully grown its market share to 40.9 percent as of February.
