2017 was just a day behind us. For Malaysia automotive fraternity, 2017 was a tough one. Total Industry Volume (TIV) that measured the total domestic registration was much lower than the initial expectation of over 600,000 units. Its final figure (yet to be announced by Malaysian Automotive Association, MAA) most likely will be lingering around 576,000 units only, lower by 4,000 units compared to 2016. The contraction was resulted to lower sales recorded especially during 4th Quarter.
2018 is expected to be a bit more promising. Many OEMs are planning to introduce newer models into the market. Hopefully, these will further excite the market. With General Election is expected to be held before April, the second half of the year will be brighter for the domestic automotive market.
Earlier estimation for this year TIV is around 605,000 units. However, with lower closing in 2017, this estimation now becoming a bit overly ambitious. For comparison, during good times, our TIV growth was only around 4 percent on average. Is it possible to achieve above 5 percent growth this year? Can the market support an increase of 29,000 units this year?
Perhaps, a more favourable supports from the banks will certainly drive for slightly higher registration this year, as this has been a long pain points faced by the industry in the past few years. Hopefully too, we will see the end of the waiting game (holding the purchase) by Malaysian consumers that has prolonged since end of 2016.
Perodua is looking forward for some growth in 2018 after closing slightly lower at 204,880 units in 2017 compared to 207,110 units in 2016. Perodua remains its number one position for 11 years in a row with a marginal drop of market share to 35.6 percent compared to 35.7 percent in 2016.
Recently launched the new Myvi will further spur the expected growth. So far, Myvi has done well by gaining a record of 24,000 booking within a month of its launched. More and more of new Myvi are now seen on Malaysian roads and highways. Many more will be registered in January as many of its buyers insisted on registering their car in 2018 instead of 2017. Perodua will be announcing its 2018's KPIs in the next few days or so.
Today, marked a new beginning of the new year. It is also a beginning of new hopes for the automotive industry in Malaysia.
For me, it is just another year to go...hopefully a better one.
