August vehicle sales up 2.8% on-yr, down 6.5% on-month

From The Edge Malaysia:

Sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles in August rose 2.8% on-year to 48,538 units, but compared to July this year, it was down by 3,390 units or 6.5%, according to Bernama.

Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said on Sept 17 the on-month decline was due to lower sales reported by Proton.

It said sales of passenger vehicles in August rose to 44,099 units from 42,864 units a year ago while that of commercial vehicles rose to 4,439 units from 4,363 units.

For Janaury-August, total industry volume fell to 351,550 units from 379,184 units in the previous corresponding period. Sales of passenger vehicles in the eight months fell to 319,424 units from 345,917 units a year ago.

Sales of commercial vehicles dropped to 32,126 units from 33,267 units previously.

MAA said production of vehicles in August fell to 44,476 units from 46,316 units a year ago.

Passenger vehicles production in August fell to 40,865 units from 42,309 units a year ago while that of commercial vehicles dropped to 3,611 units from 4,007 units.

For Janaury-August, production of passenger vehicles fell to 293,175 units from 329,557 units previous corresponding period, while that of commercial vehicles dropped to 28,216 units from 31,512 units.

MAA said sales volume for September was expected to be maintained though it will be a shorter working month due to the Hari Rara festive holidays. - Bernama

The month on month growth rate has gone negative which indicates the rebound to normal is starting to end. Proton having lower reported sales is a surprise and may indicate that people are comfortable spending more on autos than I previously thought.