Vehicle Sales Reached New All-Time High in 2023 – MAA

Sales of new motor vehicles in 2023 rose 11% to a new all-time high, with a total of 799,731 units delivered.

Sales for new vehicles in Malaysia have recorded positive net growth in 2023, with the total industry volume (TIV) rising by 11% from the previous year to reach an all-time high. As announced by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) during its annual press conference today, 2023 saw a total of 799,731 vehicles sold and delivered to customers nationwide, surpassing the previous highest sales result of 721,177 units achieved in 2022.

This record-breaking feat also marks the second annual gain for TIV since the pandemic-laden downturn back in 2020-2021, as well as the second consecutive year for the national TIV to break the 700,000 units mark.

A further breakdown of this record-breaking figure shows that a total of 719,160 passenger vehicles were delivered to customers nationwide – a 12% increase from the previous year’s record of 642,157 units. This high volume increase was largely due to the strong sales performance of the two national automakers – Proton and Perodua – which charted a combined market share of 66.9% with 481,300 units.

Meanwhile, sales for the non-national vehicle segment have experienced a 6% growth from 224,112 units in 2022 to 237,860 units in 2023.

Sales for commercial vehicles, meanwhile, only experienced a slight increase of 2% in 2023. Compared to the previous year record of 79,020 units in 2022, only 80,571 units of commercial vehicles were delivered last year.

MAA further explained that this stellar 2023 sales performance was due to several factors, with both the fulfilment of pre-SST tax exemption bookings and proactive government policies being the biggest ones. Besides that, the post-pandemic recoveries for both the domestic market and the industry supply chain have also played an integral role in setting up this new record, not to mention the flux of new models launched last year with very competitive prices.

MAA president Mohd Shamsor Mohd Zain

“Kudos to the government for steering the country into a very stable socio-political environment and achieving much progress. Such favourable conditions have enabled businesses to thrive and succeed. On behalf of all MAA members, I would like to express our heartfelt and sincere appreciation to the Government of Malaysia for all the support and assistance rendered to the automotive industry,” said MAA President Mohd Shamsor Mohd Zain.

As for the 2024 TIV forecast, MAA predicts that vehicle sales in general will experience a slight decline of 7.5% from 799,731 units to 740,000 units, with both passenger and commercial segments expected to dip by 7.4% and 8.2%, respectively.