UMW group records healthy automotive sales in January

KUALA LUMPUR: UMW Holdings Bhd’s automotive business kicked off 2021 on an encouraging note with healthy sales recorded in January by both its subsidiary UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) and associate company Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua).

In a statement today, the conglomerate said UMWT sold 3,845 units last month, up 4.1 per cent from 3,692 units in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Perodua, in which UMW Holdings is single largest shareholder, registered sales of 16,894 units in the month under review. No comparison figure was given in the statement.

"The sustained demand was due to the sales tax exemption incentive, which has now been extended to June 30, 2021,” UMW Holdings said.

Toyota Vios, Yaris and Hilux continued to be UMWT’s best-selling models in January.

"The improved Vios and Yaris were launched on Dec 17, 2020. To further enhance its products offering for 2021, UMWT introduced the updated Toyota Fortuner and Innova on Feb 2, 2021,” it said.

On Perodua, UMW Holdings noted that it targeted to sell 240,000 units this year, a nine per cent increase over the 220,163 units sold in 2020.

"Perodua also plans to increase its stock by targeting to increase production to 272,000 vehicles this year, the highest in its history, and, in the process, will purchase a record RM6.5 billion worth of locally-sourced components in 2021 which will bode well for the local automotive industry,” it said.

UMW Holdings president and group chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Kenali said both UMWT and Perodua would continue to focus on introducing new and improved models and offer superior after-sales services to satisfy customers’ requirements and expectations in order to achieve the group’s targets in 2021.

"Moving forward, the Malaysian automotive Association has forecast that the total industry volume will grow by nearly eight per cent to 570,000 units in 2021, underpinned by the projected Gross Domestic Product growth of between 6.5 and 7.5 per cent in 2021 and continued support from the government,” he added.