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Proton and Perodua's sales have gained 0.4% and 5.7% respectively
on a year-on-year basis. |
PETALING JAYA: National cars have maintained their market share in the first two months of 2013 despite increased competition in the overall wider industry coverage.
Statistics by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) released showed that sales for both Proton and Perodua have gained 0.4% and 5.7% respectively on a year-on-year basis.
Their combined market share edged up further to claim 52.8% of the total market share from 52.6% in the previous year.
RHB Research Institute, however, noted that there had been market expectations that both Proton and Perodua were being hampered by a lack of new products in the first half of 2013.
RHB said Proton was expected to introduce the Proton Preve Hatchback in the third quarter of 2013 while Perodua would likely be restricted to introducing variants of their existing three basic models the Myvi, Alza and Viva this year.
According to RHB, MAA also forecast higher sales in March due to more working days and continuedly strong consumer sentiment.
RHB however also noted there could be a “sales blip” in the coming months for auto sales due mainly to the impending general election likely to be called by April.
“The ensuing campaigning will highlight the differences in automotive policies between the two coalitions. The Pakatan coalition's election manifesto contains pledges that it intends to gradually abolish excise duties. The risk is that potential buyers could adopt a wait-and-see stance,” RHB said in the client report.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Research (HLIBR) said in another report that foreign car makes suffered from weaker month-on-month sales in February versus the industry's total industry volumes.
“Toyota reported a significant drop in February sales with 34% year-on-year and 28.5% month-on-month, after moderating promotional campaigns and strong competition from Nissan and Honda (as well as other marques). Year-to-date market share has dropped significantly to 11.8% vs 16.8% in 2012,” HLIBR said in a client report.
Among the foreign makes, statistics showed Nissan maintained its position after Toyota with a market share of 8.4% in February and 9.4% year-to-date.
HLIBR said Nissan was expected to launch the new Livina soon while it continued to leverage on its strong Almera sales.
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