PETALING JAYA: Total vehicle sales in Malaysia surged to 57,912 units in April this year, as sales in the previous corresponding period were drastically affected by the implementation of the movement control order (MCO).
Only a total of 152 vehicles were registered in April 2020.
In a statement Wednesday, the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said sales volume last month was however 12.3% lower than March 2021.
MAA said this was due to the enforcement of the conditional MCO in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Penang, Kelantan and Sarawak, as well as a shortage of computer chips that impacted the sales of some vehicle models.
Year-to-date April 2021, total vehicle sales were up 89% to 199,556 units from 105,424 units.
On the outlook for May 2021, MAA said sales volume is expected to be lower than last month’s.
“The implementation of MCO 3.0 will affect businesses and traffic flows into showrooms. The shorter working month due to Hari Raya festive holidays and shortage of computer chips will continue to affect sales of some makes, ” it said.
An analyst concurred that vehicle sales in May will be affected, but added that he was more optimistic for prospects in June.
“Many potential buyers will be looking to capitalise on the sales tax exemption before it ends, ” he said, adding however that much will also depend on whether the Covid-19 situation starts to show some improvement.
The sales tax exemption was announced in June last year under the short-term economic recovery plan (Penjana).
Under the exemption, locally-assembled cars are fully exempted from sales tax while for imported cars, the sales tax has been reduced from 10% to 5%.
It was initially supposed to last until the end of last year, but has been further extended until June 30,2021. For this year, MAA projects TIV to grow 8% to 570,000, on the back of the renewed sales tax exemption and stronger economic recovery.
