Malaysia’s vehicle sales projected to hit all time high this year

According to global consultant and research company Frost & Sullivan, they have projected that the TIV (Total Industry Volume) of the automotive market in Malaysia is set to hit an all-time high for the year 2011. This is translated to a 4.1% increase in total as compared to last year. Kavan Mukhtyar, the Frost & Sullivan Partner and Head of the Asia Pacific Automotive and Transportation Practice told the media recently that this would be achieved by the moderate growth of the country’s economy and the industry as well as the plans by companies for new model launches this year.

The B-segment market will be the fastest growing among all other segments. Kavan said that the segment which is made up of small and compact cars are expected to increase by 14% to 91,044 units this year. He was refereeing to the upcoming new model of the Perodua Myvi which has been scheduled to be launched around March and like the current model will be highly anticipated and would be very well received.

Meanwhile, for the C-Segment vehicles which is made up of mid-sized sedans is forecasted to increase to 234,183 units or 6.9%. If this figure is achieved, it would be the highest in terms of vehicle sales as it will be at 37.6%. Kavan only dismissed the claims that the Malaysian market would reach its saturation point when it reaches the 600,000 unit mark where he said that on the contrary, there would still be room to grow and expand. This is because of the country’s demographics where there are currently more than 40% of the population being below 22 years of age.

This means that with Malaysia would have a growth trajectory of around 5 to 7 years to go because naturally, young population would always have a positive growth in the economies and its vehicle market. He also said that the sector would also be strongly influenced by the growth of the economy as with better employment rate and income levels, the automotive market would usually be affected as they are all correlated. On top of that, the ever changing fuel prices globally too will come into play although Kavan said that it might be minimal in Malaysia.

Kavan also said that the OPR (Overnight Policy Rate) too might rise to around 3.25% by mid-year which will also have very minimal impact while hybrid vehicles are forecasted to double up to 3,400 units for 2011.