The composition of the Malaysian TIV for 1st
quarter 2018 seems to be slightly different from previous years. The share of
Passenger Car (PC) for first 3 months of 2018 is expected (pending official figure by MAA) to be higher by 1
percent compared to 2017 whole year. Up to March, the share for PC segment was
around 66.3 percent. Nonetheless, this is much lower than the share in 2014,
2015 and 2016 at 68.6 percent, 68.1 percent and 67.1 percent respectively.
It seems that the share of PC
segment continues to be taken by 4x4 segment, which also includes the SUV
models. For January to March 2018, the 4x4 segment increased by 2.4 percent from
10.6 percent last year. This, mainly contributed by strong demand for Honda HRV
and CRV. In actual fact, 4x4 share this year, at 13 percent is the highest ever
in Malaysian automotive market.
Whilst, the MPV segment, which
have been steadily growing in the last many years is now starting to decline.
For 1st quarter 2018, the share of MPV segment was only 10
percent compared to 12.9 percent in 2017. Among others, the reason for lower
MPV share was attributed to declining popularity of MPV globally. Indonesia,
which is among the biggest MPV market in the region also recorded much lower
MPV sales over the last few years. Also, there was no new MPV model launched
into the market over the last 6 months.
By models, within PC segment,
the new Perodua Myvi emerged as the best-seller model with 24,500 units sold
from January to March 2018. Perodua Axia was second with 15,000 units and
Perodua Bezza at third placing with 10,600 units. The Honda City and Proton
Saga at 4th and 5th placing with 7,300 and 5,800 units
respectively.
Honda controlled the SUV segment
with two of its models at the top during the 1st quarter 2018. Honda
HRV has registered 4,300 units and the Honda CRV registered 3,700 units.
Within the MPV segment, 6,000
units of Perodua Alza were registered, followed by Honda BRV with 2,400 units.
In-terms of total volume by
model, all the four Perodua models were among the top 5 best-selling models for 1st
quarter 2018. The top 5 models were Myvi, Axia, Bezza, City and Alza.
4x4 segment is going to be an
interesting segment to watch moving forward, especially with the growing trend
of SUVs. It is no secret that Proton is entering the segment with its “Boyue”.
This entrance is expected to break the dominance of Honda in this segment.
For me. "the more the merrier".
