Peter Lyon
January 31, 2025
In 2024, the Malaysian automobile market exceeded forecasts by selling a record-breaking 816,747 units, or Total Industry Volume (TIV). Compared to 2023’s TIV of 799,821 units, this is a 2.1% rise.
Production cars led this growth, with a total of 747,180 units delivered, a 3.9% increase from the previous year. However, commercial vehicle sales fell, recording only 69,567 units sold last year, marking a 13.8% drop from 2023.
According to the MAA, a stable sociopolitical climate, a low unemployment rate, a big backlog of orders in the A-segment, and a boom in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are some of the reasons for the overall TIV gain momentum. The rationalisation of diesel subsidies in June 2024 is probably the cause of the drop in sales of commercial vehicles.
A 2% increase over 2023, and Total Industry Production (TIP) for 2024 reached 790,347 units. From 49,709 units in 2023, passenger car output rose 2.7% while commercial vehicle production decreased 8%.
Moving forward to 2025, the MAA forecasts a TIV of 780,000 units, with passenger vehicles accounting for 710,000 units and commercial vehicles at 70,000 units. This projected slowdown is based on several factors, including: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasting marginal global economic growth at 3.3% for 2025.
Malaysia’s GDP growth potential should be within 4.5% to 5.5%.
The country’s central bank—Bank Negara—maintaining the OPR at 3% in 2025, means that participating parties needed to think seriously about their moves. An increase in the minimum wage to RM1,700 from 1st February 2025 will help a lot as will salary revisions for government servants up to 15% and a low unemployment rate at 3.2%. The expiration of duties exemption for BEVs at the end of 2025.
The rationalisation of RON 95 petrol by mid-2025, and uncertainties surrounding the US-China trade war, could also affect the 2025 TIV, potentially encouraging sales of electrified vehicles (xEV).
CARLIST THOUGHTS
These figures from the MAA show that the Malaysian car industry is performing well. But it still needs to consolidate given that models like the BYD Atto 3 and Seal have made a good start in production circles in Asia but must battle with other Chinese companies making inroads like Geely, Chery, Zeekr, Denza and XPeng.
