New vehicle sales in Malaysia were slightly higher at 43,722 units in February 2022 compared with 43,448 units in the same month of last year, according to registration data released by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).
That followed a 22% year on year rebound last January when most vehicle manufacturers ramped up production to fulfill order backlogs following disruption from flooding in key industrial areas in December as well as the continued global shortage of semiconductors.
Vehicle production in February rose 13% to 51,291 units.
Cumulative sales in the first two months of the year were up 10% at 84,303 vehicles from 76,840 a year earlier, with passenger vehicle sales rising 7% to 72,491 units as commercial vehicle volume surged 33% to 11,812.
Perodua sales increased 5% to 17,421 units in February and 2% to 34,027 year to date. The national car maker continued to struggle with supply chain disruption due to the December floods, however, with global sales falling 22% to 9,225 units in February and 23% to 13,678 in the first two months of the year.
UMW Toyota sales continued to rebound strongly last month, by 27% to 6,432 units and 56% to 13,960 year to date, helped by the recent launch of the locally assembled Corolla Cross Hybrid and strong demand for Hilux trucks.
The Toyota and Perodua distributor UMW Group said it had a current order backlog of between three and four months and had “secured sufficient component supplies – including semiconductor chips – to meet our 2022 sales and production targets”.
Perodua has set a sales target of 247,800 vehicles this year, up 30% on over 2021’s 190,291.