Malaysia August 2016: Bezza lifts Perodua up 28% in market down 2%

The Perodua Bezza has taken the Malaysian market by storm. 

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New car sales in Malaysia slow down their decline in August to -2% year-on-year at 52.312 units, meaning the year-to-date tally is now down 15% to 370.742. One manufacturer is responsible for this stabilising: market leader Perodua, up a fantastic 28% year-on-year to 21.261 sales, breaking the 40% market share barrier for the first time in history at 40.6% (previous best: 38.9% in April 2015). This performance has a lot to do with the instant and staggering success of the Bezza sedan. Launched on July 21, the Bezza reached 10.000 sales on August 29, the fastest nameplate to ever reach that milestone in Malaysia. According to local outlet Motor Trader, 50.000 people around Malaysia have taken test-drives of the new sedan and 50% of them decided to buy one with 25.000 orders received since bookings were accepted from July 16.

Local illustrators are already imagining the Bezza as taxi. Picture Theophilus Chin. 

The Bezza is priced is from RM37.300 to RM50.800 (US$ 8.975 – 12.220) and the most popular variant so far are the 1.3-litre Advanced (44% of sales) and the Premium X 1.3 automatic (43%). In other brands news, Honda shines with deliveries up 21% to 8.283 and 15.8% share. This means Perodua and Honda combined are up 26% to 29.544 sales, holding an astounding 56.4% of the Malaysian market in August while all other brands combined are down 24% to just 22.768 units. In third place, Toyota is down 19%, Proton freefalls 51% to just 8.5% share, Nissan is down 15%, Mazda down 13%, Mitsubishi down 14% and Ford down 27%. Manufacturers yielding positive results in August include Isuzu (+5%), Hyundai (+8%), BMW (+15%), Kia (+87%) and Subaru (+179%).

Previous month: Malaysia July 2016: Proton drops 64% in market down 28%

One year ago: Malaysia August 2015: Discover the Top 60 models (BSCB exclusive)

Full August 2016 Top 45 All-brands ranking below.