Malaysia Passenger Car Sales : 2018

The government stopped charging VAT (GST) sales tax for three months June to August. As most cars sold here are locally assembled, it was to stimulate production. However, the upsurge in demand caught manufacturers off guard and it didn't fully achieve its goal. That said, I question the value of such moves anyway.

So the effect was that while car sales are up 3.6% for the year, they were 0% in December. Local brand Perodua (making Daihatsu based cars under licence) has now over 40% of the total sales. The next four major brands all lost market share then comes Mazda zooming up the chart.

Below green shows increase and blue a drop. Audi sales are up until June when the reporting stopped. With import duties, it's hard to survive here as just an importer.

	15	16	17	18	Brand	2018	%	+/-
	1	1	1	1	Perodua	227,243	42.6%	11%
	3	2	2	2	Honda	102,282	19.2%	-7%
	2	3	3	3	Proton	64,744	12.1%	-9%
	4	4	4	4	Toyota	43,446	8.1%	-9%
	5	5	5	5	Nissan	21,956	4.1%	10%
	6	6	8	6	Mazda	15,765	3.0%	67%
	7	7	6	7	Mercedes	13,118	2.5%	9%
	8	8	7	8	BMW	12,008	2.3%	13%
	9	9	9	9	VW	7,001	1.3%	7%
	12	11	11	10	Kia	5,658	1.1%	37%
	16	13	10	11	Subaru	5,175	1.0%	8%
	11	12	13	12	Mitsubishi	3,603	0.7%	45%
	10	10	12	13	Hyundai	2,808	0.5%	-28%
	14	14	14	14	Peugeot	2,302	0.4%	20%
	20	18	15	15	Volvo	1,384	0.3%	36%
	19	19	16	16	MINI	1,200	0.2%	19%
	17	15	17	17	Lexus	1,011	0.2%	6%
	23	20	19	18	Renault	1,009	0.2%	70%
	-	-	-	19	CAM	442	0.1%	n/a
	21	23	21	20	Porsche	342	0.1%	-13%
	22	25	24	21	Land Rover	183		53%
	18	17	18	22	Audi	150		-79%
	-	-	-	23	King Long	118		n/a
	15	16	20	24	Ford	84		-85%
	24	24	23	25	Isuzu	75		-47%
	25	21	22	26	Chevolet	51		-69%
	28	27	26	27	Jaguar	42		-26%
					Others	2
					Total	533,202		4%

Data source: MAA.

Can Proton nake a comeback with models like this

France Passenger Car Sales : 2018

Registrations were +3.0% for the full year but -14.5% for December. Clearly, the new fuel consumption and emissions (WLTP) regulations had an effect but how long that will last is uncertain. Below the % column is market share and the +/- compared to 2017. Green shows which brands went up and blue if they went down.

Renault seems to be getting slowly reeled in by Peugeot, with little now separating them. Compared to historical registrations, this is a slow but steady turn around. French-owned Romanian brand Dacia has passed VW by a slender margin which is quite an achievement. Some sizable reductions in share for the premium marques, a trend I've been noticing. Perhaps their quest for more sales and the gap between them and mainstream makes has become too close to justify the extra amount charged.

	15	16	17	18	Brand	2018	%	+/-
	1	1	1	1	Renault	406,222	18.7%	-2%
	2	2	2	2	Peugeot	389,518	17.9%	6%
	3	3	3	3	Citroën	213,844	9.8%	6%
	5	5	5	4	Dacia	140,326	6.5%	19%
	4	4	4	5	VW	140,313	6.5%	1%
	8	7	6	6	Toyota	97,286	4.5%	10%
	6	6	7	7	Ford	82,633	3.8%	-2%
	12	11	10	8	Fiat	78,226	3.6%	15%
	9	9	8	9	Opel	71,619	3.3%	-1%
	11	12	11	10	Mercedes	65,808	3.0%	-3%
	7	8	9	11	Nissan	59,606	2.7%	-17%
	13	13	13	12	BMW	57,537	2.6%	-6%
	10	10	12	13	Audi	51,582	2.4%	-21%
	15	14	14	14	Kia	42,313	1.9%	14%
	16	16	15	15	Hyundai	35,542	1.6%	20%
	19	18	16	16	Škoda	31,423	1.4%	17%
	18	19	18	17	Seat	31,219	1.4%	26%
	17	17	17	18	MINI	27,378	1.3%	4%
	20	20	19	19	Suzuki	27,241	1.3%	9%
	14	15	20	20	DS	24,004	1.1%	13%
	21	21	21	21	Volvo	18,349	0.8%	13%
	23	24	23	22	Chrysler	13,191	0.6%	21%
	24	23	22	23	Mazda	11,129	0.5%	-6%
	27	27	24	24	Alfa Romeo	8,332	0.4%	-10%
	26	25	26	25	Honda	8,309	0.4%	-2%
	25	26	27	26	smart	7,446	0.3%	-9%
	22	22	25	27	Land Rover	6,803	0.3%	-25%
	29	29	29	28	Lexus	6,101	0.3%	13%
	30	32	31	31	Mitsubishi	4,879	0.2%	105%
	31	30	30	30	Jaguar	4,580	0.2%	29%
	28	28	28	29	Porsche	4,567	0.2%	-16%
	36	35	33	32	Tesla	1,252	0.1%	-8%
	-	-	51	33	Alpine	1,156	0.1%	n/a
	34	31	32	34	Infiniti	945		-52%
	35	36	34	35	Subaru	720		0%
	38	37	35	36	Maserati	606		-15%
	37	33	36	37	Ssangyong	301		-55%
	39	38	37	38	Ferrari	270		-1%
					Others	905
					Total	2,173,481		3%

Data source: CCFA.