In a closely-fought battle to top 2020’s figures, the market recorded declines in production and sales figures in December, ensuring that 2021 narrowly underperformed in comparison to the previous year in end-of-year figures released by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).
Strong Month for Sales Aside, December Falls Behind Previous December Tally
Starting with production of passenger vehicles, there were just under 50,000 new vehicles produced (49,901), which was 4% under 2020’s 51,917 units. Taking this dip into account, the final annual figure for 2021 was 446,431 vehicles, which is only 2% under 2020’s 457,755 units produced.
Looking to sales for passenger vehicles next, the fall was a little steeper in December. With 57,603 vehicles sold, this was the highest month for sales for the whole of 2021. However, with December 2020’s 62,125, this is a fall of 7%. The annual figures showcase a similar drop with 479,647 for 2020, against 452,663 for 2021, which represents a 6% drop.
The MAA notes that December was a month filled with deliveries of backdated orders and ambitious advertising campaigns. For January, sales will see a small dip, although this is partly due to flooding in the Klang Valley and East Coast, which will cause supply disruption, followed by the sustained shortage of chips which proved a continued bugbear for 2021. In more positive news, with the advent of Chinese New Year, there should be new promotional campaigns, which could well generate increased sales, as we saw in December.
