National cars’ market share falls to less than half

By Chan Quan Min

Just 47.3% of all vehicles sold in the first six months of the year were either Perodua or Proton, the first time in decades the market share of national cars was below the 50% mark.

Vehicle sales data for the first half of 2014 released today by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) revealed a close to four-percentage point fall in the market share of national cars from last year.

Market leader Perodua saw its share of total vehicles sales decline from 29.9% in 2013 to 28.4% in the first six months up to June.

Proton, the second best-selling car, also saw its share of total vehicle sales fall by a similar amount. The carmaker’s share of total sales fell from 21.2% in 2013 to 18.9% in the first six months up to June.

Sales of Perodua vehicles fell from 96,873 units in the first six months of 2013 to 94,480 units in the first six months of 2014.

Meanwhile, sales of Proton vehicles fell from 64,782 units in the first half of 2013 to 63,040 in the first half of 2014.

Perodua last week cut its sales target for the year from 197,000 units to 193,000 units, about a 2.5% reduction.

‘The first six months have been challenging,” Perodua president and CEO Aminar Rashid Salleh was quoted as saying in a StarBiz article.

“Many of our customers looking to purchase the Viva find it hard to get hire purchase loans approved. The rejection rate for this model is between 40% and 45%,” he added.

In a press conference today, MAA president Aishah Ahmad agreed that vehicle loan approvals were “more and more difficult” to obtain for lower income individuals after Bank Negara introduced stricter financing guidelines.

Despite lower sales of national cars, vehicles sales as a whole saw a 6.3% year-on-year improvement to 333,142 units in the first six months up to June. Much of the gains were made in the second quarter.

Second quarter vehicles sales or total industry volume (TIV) of 173,232 units far exceeded first quarter vehicles sales of 159,910 units.

“EEV (energy efficient vehicle) models have really gained market share,” MAA’s Aishah told reporters.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) introduced a range of tax breaks, soft loans and research & development grants for locally assembled EEV compliant models in January.

Honda, Nissan, Mercedes and Great Wall Motors each have a EEV compliant model.

Proton and Perodua are reportedly in negotiations with MITI officials to obtain EEV status for their future production models.

MAA revised upwards their sales forecast for the full-year ending December “in light of the good performance for the first half.”