Malaysia March 2015: Anticipated GST increase push market up 14%

Honda leads foreign carmakers in Malaysia in March.

* See the Top 45 All-brands ranking by clicking on the title *

A new Goods & Service Tax (GST) implementation scheduled for April 1 resulted in a surge in forward purchases in Malaysia, pushing the market up 14% to 67,314 registrations, the highest monthly result in almost two years – since the 68,451 units registered in July 2013. The GST will be applied throughout the supply chain and not just at the end on the car itself, so the implications are complex and the prices are likely to move significantly (up and/or down), which partly explains why car buyers rushed to dealerships in March. The other reason explaining the surge is the unusual amount of discounts many carmakers had in place during March to try and entice car buyers that thought the GST increase would result in a drop in prices and were mulling deferring their purchase until April.

The brands ranking is extremely stable in March in Malaysia, with the Top 7 best-sellers remaining unchanged compared to February. If local manufacturers Perodua (33.4%) and Proton (15.6%) are slightly lower than their year-to-date levels, both Honda (14.2%) and Toyota (10.7%) fare significantly better.

Previous month: Malaysia February 2015: Honda leads foreign carmakers again

One year ago: Malaysia March 2014: Toyota close to 17% share

Full March 2015 Top 45 All-brands ranking below.

Malaysia March 2015 – brands:

Pos	Brand	Mar-15	%	Feb	2015	%	Pos	FY14
1	Perodua	22,497	33.4%	1	57,153	34.0%	1	1
2	Proton	10,528	15.6%	2	27,682	16.4%	2	2
3	Honda	9,581	14.2%	3	22,145	13.2%	3	4
4	Toyota	7,187	10.7%	4	16,241	9.6%	4	3
5	Nissan	5,005	7.4%	5	13,226	7.9%	5	5
6	Ford	1,818	2.7%	6	4,611	2.7%	6	7
7	Mazda	1,503	2.2%	7	3,372	2.0%	8	9
8	Isuzu	1,465	2.2%	9	2,907	1.7%	9	8
9	Mitsubishi	1,157	1.7%	8	3,609	2.1%	7	6
10	Mercedes	969	1.4%	13	1,890	1.1%	11	14
11	Hyundai-Inokom	750	1.1%	10	2,172	1.3%	10	10
12	Volkswagen	622	0.9%	12	1,541	0.9%	13	12
13	Hino	564	0.8%	15	1,326	0.8%	15	16
14	Kia	549	0.8%	11	1,770	1.1%	12	11
15	Suzuki	434	0.6%	16	1,113	0.7%	16	18
16	BMW	389	0.6%	14	1,359	0.8%	14	13
17	Subaru	295	0.4%	17	794	0.5%	18	21
18	Peugeot	242	0.4%	18	1,038	0.6%	17	17
19	Mitsubishi Fuso	218	0.3%	19	647	0.4%	19	19
20	UD Trucks	165	0.2%	22	362	0.2%	21	15
21	Lexus	148	0.2%	20	362	0.2%	20	23
22	Volvo Trucks	121	0.2%	31	197	0.1%	27	30
23	Audi	115	0.2%	21	342	0.2%	22	22
24	Daihatsu	113	0.2%	24	272	0.2%	24	24
25	Land Rover	100	0.1%	25	262	0.2%	25	25
26	Chana	98	0.1%	26	257	0.2%	26	33
27	Porsche	97	0.1%	28	187	0.1%	28	32
28	Chevrolet	94	0.1%	23	297	0.2%	23	20
29	Scania	74	0.1%	27	172	0.1%	29	27
30	Volvo	69	0.1%	30	154	0.1%	30	26
31	CAMC	44	0.1%	32	108	0.1%	32	29
32	Mini	40	0.1%	29	143	0.1%	31	28
33	Chery	36	0.1%	34	85	0.1%	34	31
34	Bison	36	0.1%	36	55	0.0%	36	37
35	SsangYong	32	0.0%	35	59	0.0%	35	38
36	Sinotruk	31	0.0%	42	55	0.0%	38	34
37	Man	30	0.0%	40	55	0.0%	37	40
38	Renault	23	0.0%	33	88	0.1%	33	36
39	JAC	20	0.0%	37	50	0.0%	39	35
40	Mercedes Trucks	17	0.0%	39	31	0.0%	42	39
41	Jaguar	16	0.0%	41	39	0.0%	40	46
42	Auman	10	0.0%	38	37	0.0%	41	41
43	JBC	7	0.0%	45	13	0.0%	43	42
44	Yutong	4	0.0%	43	10	0.0%	44	45
45	BAW	1	0.0%	44	10	0.0%	45	49

Source: MAA via motortrader.com.my

from Best Selling Cars - Matt's blog http://ift.tt/1KG8ouL