MAA: Motor vehicle sales in Malaysia break all-time record in 2022, EVs on the up

January 19, 2023

MAA: Motor vehicle sales in Malaysia break all-time record in 2022, EVs on the up

PETALING JAYA, Jan 19 — The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) today announced that 720,658 units of motor vehicles were sold in 2022, making it the largest “total industry volume” (TIV) ever recorded in the country.

MAA president Datuk Aishah Ahmad attributed the record TIV partly to a government decision to allow vehicles booked by June 30, 2022, to be registered with the Road Transport Department until March 31 this year and receive a sales and service tax exemption.

“The extension of the period for registration of passenger vehicles not only ensured the rakyat will enjoy the benefit of lower priced cars but it also helped the industry to fulfil the many backlogged orders received,” she said during a press conference held in the MAA headquarters here.

This was the first time the local automotive industry’s TIV passed the 700,000 mark, with 604,287 units sold in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic hit Malaysia.

“On behalf of MAA members, I would like to express our heartfelt and sincere thanks to the government of Malaysia for extending the registration period, which indeed had been very effective,” added Aishah.Another reason cited for the rise was pent-up demand for new vehicles in 2022, especially after low sales in the first half of 2021 — which saw various movement restrictions including a full movement control order (FMCO) in June 2021, due to the pandemic.

Both 2020 and 2021 saw huge slumps for the industry, with 529,514 and 508,911 motor vehicles sold in those respective years.

Of the motor vehicles sold last year, passenger vehicles numbered 641,773, while commercial vehicles such as trucks and trailers numbered 78,885.

DISYORKAN UNTUK ANDA :

Meanwhile, 2,631 electric vehicles (EVs) were sold in Malaysia last year, which was more than a 90 per cent increase from the previous year.

The sale of EVs has been on a yearly rise, with two such vehicles sold in 2018, 42 EVs sold in 2019, 58 EVs sold in 2020, and 278 EVs sold in 2021.

The sale of hybrid cars also saw a recovery with 19,988 hybrid cars sold in 2022, compared to 7,622 in 2021 — which was a large drop compared to the 20,744 hybrid cars sold in 2018.

In 2022, the local automotive industry was faced with a large backlog of ordered cars and a crippled production rate due to a global supply chain disruption.

Compromising with some requests that MAA made at the time, the government had allowed for buyers who booked their cars by June 31, 2022 to register their vehicles by March 2023 and receive a tax exemption that had been part of a government stimulus package since 2020.