MALAYSIA – The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) announced that a total of 67,314 vehicles were sold in the country in March of this year, rising 33.6 percent from the total sales recorded in February.
The rise in vehicles sales last month was attributed to the implementation of the Goods and Services tax (GST) on April 1, which promoted car companies to clear stocks prior to the implementation of the GST.
Out of the 67,314 vehicles sold in March, 59,318 were passenger vehicles while the rest, or 7,996 units, were commercial vehicles, the MAA said.
Vehicle sales in March brought the total vehicles sales for the first three months of this year to 168,306 units, a rise of 5.2% from the 159,913 units sold in the same period last year.
Production of vehicles in Malaysia also increased in March to 60,085 units from 50,382 units in 2014.
In China, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said sales of new light passenger vehicles in mainland China increased by 9.4 percent to 1.87 million units in March.
First quarter sales increased by 9.2 percent year on year to 5.3 million units, after full year 2014 sales rose by 9.9 percent to 19.7 million units, excluding commercial vehicles.
The association noted domestic automakers increased their share of the passenger vehicle market by 4.2 percentage points to 43.2 percent, with 819,200 sales. – BusinessNewsAsia.com