The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) released the sales and production figures last week with total industry production (TIP) growth being upbeat, increasing 2.1 % year on year (y-o-y) after declining over the past four months.
MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd’s research arm (MIDF Research) noted that the mild increase in January total industry volume (TIV) was partly explained by the highbase effect in January 2014 which was boosted by the delivery rush running up to the Chinese New Year (CNY) festival on Jan 31, 2014.
Within the brands, MIDF Research explained that Perodua posted the strongest sales volume growth but was mostly offset by Toyota’s startling 38 % y-o-y drop in sales.
The decline was mainly due to weak passenger car sales despite mild updates introduced for the Toyota Vios in early January 2015.
Explaining this, MIDF Research said that Toyota’s sales fell sharply on poor sales of passenger car and pickup segments.
Interestingly, this is despite mild updates introduced for the Toyota Vios and the Toyota Hilux in early January.
“Toyota’s January 2015 sales was its weakest monthly sales since August 2004 when it sold 3,890 units while average monthly sales in 2014 and 2013 stood at 8,559 units and 7,599 units respectively.
“We were encouraged by the TIP figures which increased and believe the growth was due to inventory buildup following the launch of five key locally assembled models such as the Nissan Almera facelift, Honda CRV, Perodua Myvi facelift, Nissan XTrail and Honda HRV.
“Furthermore, we also understand that all variants of the Proton Iriz have entered production,” said the research house.
Meanwhile, Alexander Chia from RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd expects Toyota sales to normalise in the coming months.
“It was a good start to 2015 for Nissan although it remains to be seen if it can maintain the current pace of sales with the expected reduced capability for discounts, given the January introduction of the facelifted Almera and the strength of the US dollar beginning to crimp margins,” he said in a separate report.
“Honda looks primed for another solid year with a strong product pipeline. Mazda sales were flat in January, rounding off its seasonally weakest quarter.
“Deliveries of the new Mazda 2 should begin in earnest in February.”
While non-national makes continue to dominate the market, garnering 51 % share vs 49 % for national makes, the latter’s share has improved from 47 % in 2014. Overall, MIDF Research observed that sales volume of national makes grew while non-national sales declined January 2015.
The latest hire purchase (HP) loan approval rate for the December 2014 rebounded to 57 %. The improvement over December 2013 was encouraging given that total loans applied declined 2.3 % y-o-y whereas loans approved grew 8.8 % y-o-y, said the research house.
“While our 2015F TIV target remains unchanged at 670,000 units, the increment is mildly revised due to the weaker than expected 2014 TIV which fell short of our 668k unit target by 1,535 units.”