KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s new vehicle sales hit an all-time monthly high in March, rising 7.6 percent from the previous year, helped by festive season promotions and as car makers rushed to clear bookings made during the tax exemption period, a trade body said in a statement Monday.
Sales volume reached 78,849 units in March, compared with 73,250 units in the same month last year, the Malaysian Automotive Association, or MAA, said in a statement. Sales increased 24 percent from February’s 63,510 units.
Overall production in March totaled 76,069 vehicles, 27 percent higher from 59,908 units a year ago. Year-to-date, both car sales and production increased 20.4 percent and 28.7 percent year-on-year, to 192,474 units and 198,394 units, respectively.
However, the MAA expects sales in April to be “much lower” than in March, due to the shorter working month during the Eid festive season.
Malaysia’s economy in the fourth quarter grew 7 percent from a year earlier on continued expansion in domestic demand and resilient demand for electrical and electronics goods, Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said.
Gross domestic product (GDP) for all of 2022 had been 8.7 percent higher than in 2021, she said.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected the central bank to report October-December GDP 6.6 percent higher than in the same period of 2021, slowing from the 14.2 percent annual growth seen in the third quarter. — Reuters
