This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 11, 2018 - January 17, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: After a five-year hiatus, the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show (KLIMS 2018) is making a comeback this year with the theme “Beyond Mobility”.

Scheduled to take place from Nov 23 to Dec 2 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Mitec), KLIMS 2018 is poised to rev up Malaysia’s automotive industry with many new model launches and automobile concepts.

Organiser Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) expects more than 350,000 visitors to the 10-day event. Among the more than 100 participating exhibitors are Daihatsu, Ford, Honda, Perodua, Proton, Toyota and Nissan.

“With the rise in cost [of] living affecting consumers and higher cost of doing business impacting companies, the local automotive sector is expected to face another challenging year,” said MAA president Datuk Aishah Ahmad at the KLIMS 2018 launch and signing ceremony yesterday.

“Therefore, MAA and leading auto companies have indicated that having the motor show in 2018 is opportune to reignite consumer sentiment, define brand presence and refuel the industry,” she said.

KLIMS was last held in 2013 at the Putra World Trade Centre. The event was subsequently put on a pause as the venue was inadequate in meeting the needs of KLIMS, said Aishah.

“So we waited five years for Mitec to be ready. It is a good venue to accommodate all requirements. And for us, 2018 is the ideal timing for KLIMS to return due to the year-end festive holidays,” she said.

Meanwhile, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, who was guest of honour, said although it is impossible to achieve a double-digit growth in total industry volume (TIV) for now as the automotive industry is matured, current sales figures accumulated by auto players still signal positive growth.

“We need to be realistic. We cannot have double-digit growth ... those were the days. We will be satisfied with moderate growth. We have November figures, which appear to indicate some increase in sales,” Mustapa said.

For November, Malaysia recorded a TIV of 49,184 units, up 0.2% from the 49,095 units sold in the same month a year earlier. As for January to November 2017, a total of 521,907 units were sold, 1.3% higher than the 515,252 units recorded a year ago.