This was reported by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) in its monthly report on vehicle sales, covering both passenger cars as well as commercial vehicles.
“Sales in November 2016 dropped 12.5% from 56,068 units in November 2015 to 49,085 units last month. Overall vehicle sales in 2016 up to November, had fallen by 13.7% compared with last year for the same period,” the MAA said in a statement released yesterday.
For passenger cars alone, MAA said sales had dropped by 11.7% to 43,550 units in November 2016 from 49,324 units in November 2015. Commercial vehicle sales declined 17.9% to 5,535 units from 6,744 units.
MAA was however, optimistic about the local vehicle sales market, stating there had been a slight increase from the month before.
“Sales volume for November 2016 was 2.5% higher than October 2016, on new model launches and attractive offers and discounts by car companies,” MAA said.
For the period January to November 2016, total vehicle sales fell 13.7% to 515,293 units from 597,306 units for the same period a year ago.
From this number, new passenger car sales dropped 13.8% to 456,943 units from 530,173 units a year ago, while commercial vehicle sales fell by 13.1% to 58,350 units from 67,133 units.
Auto makers had also reduced their production levels this year between January and November, with 497,428 vehicles rolling of the assembly line compared with 569,374 units for the same period last year.
This also contrasts with the numbers for November this year alone, where production had increased by 14.3% to 57,369 vehicles produced compared with 50,203 units for the same month last year.
According to MAA, this could be attributed to an anticipated boost to year-end sales this month and in January with festive promotions until the Chinese New Year and the possibility of consumers buying forward in anticipation of car prices increasing in 2017.