KUALA LUMPUR (DEC 13): Malaysia’s automotive industry total industry volume (TIV) sales is expected to rebound in December, after sluggish November sales which fell 7.82% year-on-year and 3.33% month-on-month, said the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).

TIV fell to 67,532 units in November, down from 73,262 units in the same month a year ago.

It was also lower from 69,859 units in October, which MAA attributed to consumers “adopting a wait-and-see attitude for year-end promotions”.

TIV in December “is expected to be higher than November 2024”, it said, amid expectations of aggressive year-end promotions by companies whose financial year ends in December.

As a result of the weaker November sales, TIV for January to November (11M2024) is up just 1.41% to 731,534 units, from 721,392 units in 11M2023. This was led by a 17% decline in commercial vehicle sales, while passenger vehicle sales staged growth of 3% in the period.

MAA, earlier this month, revised its full-year TIV sales forecast to 800,000 units, from 765,000 units projected earlier. The industry sold 799,731 units in the whole of 2023.

Meanwhile, production TIV fell 10.06% y-o-y and 14.4% m-o-m to 60,927 units in November, as production of both passenger and commercial vehicles saw decline.

This brings its year-to-date figure to 725,173 units — still up 2.375 from 708,376 units in the same period a year ago.