PETALING JAYA: The Malaysia Automotive Association (MAA) is maintaining its original total industry volume (TIV) forecast for the full year at 600,000 units, from 598,714 units recorded in 2018, driven by mixed signals on the economic outlook.
Its president, Datuk Aishah Ahmad said while the World Bank expected global economic growth to slow down to 2.9 per cent this year, the introduction of new models offering the latest additional specifications and designs at very competitive prices can help to sustain buying interest.
“While consumers and businesses are generally very cautious in spending since many are expecting economic uncertainties to extend into the second half of this year, aggressive promotional campaigns for the rest of the year might mitigate the impact,” she told a press conference on the MAA market review for the first half of 2019 (1H 2019) here, yesterday.
TIV of new motor vehicles in 1H 2019 increased by 2.3 per cent to 296,334 units from 289,599 units in the same period last year.
Aishah said the number of passenger vehicles rose 3.8 per cent or 9,952 units during the period, while the commercial vehicles segment registered a decline of 11.2 per cent or 3,217 units compared with 1H 2018.
“As we all know, the first half of 2018 was subdued as consumers largely adopted a wait-and-see attitude in the lead-up to the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018.
“The TIV for June 2018 was exceptionally high due to an upsurge in demand for new vehicles after the government announced the three-month long Goods and Services Tax (GST) holiday,” she said. – Bernama
