IT seems that the non-national cars are also having good sales as the year 2020 comes to a close.
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to worry the population with daily cases hovering between 850 to 1,600 the past few weeks and the government continues to look at how to assist lower income Malaysians to weather this economic situation.
However, it should be noted that many Malaysians still have a full monthly salary and benefits and that there are still many business owners not really affected at all by this pandemic.
This is good news for the rest of the economy, as spending must continue to keep the economy moving as much as possible to reduce any more job losses, and those sitting and waiting for government handouts or relative handouts should be proactive in being useful to society by earning a living.
Local Brand Car Sales
Proton recently announced it sold 11,411 units in November and its close rival, Perodua had more than double that with sales at 23,119 units.
Now the good sales of both these brands is understandable as they cater to the middle and lower middle class, and also the ride hailing buyers.
Popular Brand Sales
Now comes the surprising sales numbers of new models like the Honda City, which recently reported a sterling 9,000 plus bookings just one month after its official launch in mid-October.
Honda Malaysia managed to deliver over 2,400 units of this new family car within the first month.
Now, during the same period Proton only managed to deliver 1,756 units of their all new crossover, the X50, despite taking in more than 10,000 plus bookings.
Meanwhile 2,157 units of the Proton X70 SUV, which is priced from RM94,800 to RM122,800, was delivered to happy customers during the same period.
Just yesterday afternoon, Honda Malaysia released good news that their face-lifted 2020 model Honda CR-V, which is priced from RM139,912, (some RM17,112 more than the X70) got an impressive 1,700 bookings and they managed to deliver 1,300 units to customers.
The next new vehicle selling well this last quarter of 2020 is the 7-seat Mitsubishi Xpander, which was launched on November 5 for RM91,369. It has received some 4,000 plus bookings to date and delivery has already started at press time.
Segment Changes
Looking at the above booking numbers against the selling prices of vehicles on offer, it is clear that many middle class (or maybe it's the upper middle class spending less) Malaysians continue to buy more expensive vehicles against lower priced national cars and this shows a shift downwards for the mid-segment priced vehicles (RM150,000 to RM190,000).
Also, brand value remains important and this gives an advantage in an economic slowdown.
We wait patiently for the year end sales and delivery report from the government on total car sales and the sales numbers of individual brands for 2020 which will be revealed in a few weeks’ time. – The Vibes, December 10, 2020
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