PETALING JAYA: Whole automobile gross sales in February was flattish at 43,722 items, in contrast with 43,448 items within the earlier corresponding interval, in response to the Malaysian Automotive Affiliation (MAA).
On a month-on-month foundation, automobile gross sales in February 2022 was 8% greater than January 2022 (which was at 40,581 items), as auto corporations ramped up manufacturing to meet backlog orders, the affiliation stated in an announcement yesterday.
12 months-to-date in February 2022, gross sales quantity rose 10% year-on-year to 84,303 items from 76,840 items beforehand, MAA stated.
When it comes to projection for the month of March, MAA stated gross sales are anticipated to be greater than February 2022, given the longer working month.
The affiliation added that the projected greater gross sales for this month can even be resulting from push by corporations with their monetary 12 months ending on March 31.
In a report final week, KAF Equities Sdn Bhd stated escalating steel costs on account of the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict may add additional strain on carmakers, who’re already grappling with chip shortages and better vitality prices.
Nevertheless, it stated the magnitude of the impression from the continuing Russia-Ukraine battle will hinge on how the scenario develops.
“As of now, we don’t count on the present surging steel costs to trigger huge automobile worth will increase within the close to time period.
“Nevertheless, steel costs ought to proceed to rise for a chronic interval, rising value pressures on carmakers might then be handed on to consumers, growing value of possession and doubtlessly dampening demand for automobiles,” it stated.
In the meantime, AmInvestment Financial institution stated it expects complete automobile gross sales to develop 9% year-on-year to 555,000 items in 2022.
“Business gross sales are anticipated to rebound in 2022 as the provision chain normalizes and shoppers’ confidence step by step recovers, underpinned by the pick-up in broad-based financial actions,” it stated.
Based on MAA information, complete automobile gross sales dropped 4% year-on-year to 508,911 items in 2021, as varied motion restrictions attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic final 12 months hampered enterprise operations for months.
The final time annual automotive gross sales have been decrease than final 12 months’s numbers was in 2007 when gross sales hit 487,176 items.
Despite the abysmal gross sales efficiency final 12 months, the contraction was nonetheless lower than the gross sales contraction recorded in 2020, which was at 12.4%. A complete of 529,514 automobiles have been bought in 2020.
At its first biannual press convention in January, MAA introduced that it’s projecting automobile gross sales to develop 18% year-on-year to 600,000 items in 2022. The projection is underpinned by the higher financial surroundings (in contrast with 2021), in addition to the gross sales tax exemption that was prolonged till June 30, this 12 months.