Malaysia January 2020: Proton (+24%), Toyota (+16.4%) defy market down -12%

Proton is at its highest level in 6 years at home.

New vehicle sales in Malaysia drop -12% year-on-year in January to 42.623 due to the Lunar New Year falling in January this year vs. February 2019. Brand leader Perodua (-13.1%) roughly follows the market and remains ultra-dominant at 41% share vs. 39.8% over the FY2019. Proton (+24%) on the other hand continues its recovery, hitting a round 20% share for the month which means it has held 20% or more for two straight months for the first time in 6 years – since March 2014. This is a spectacular bounce back from the low of 8.4% share it hit only two years ago in March 2018. Toyota (+16.4%) is also in excellent shape at #4, posting the only other double-digit gain in the Top 10. In contrast, Mercedes (-37.6%), Volkswagen (-37%), Nissan (-31.7%), Mazda (-31.5%), Ford (-28%), Isuzu (-22.6%), Mitsubishi (-21.5%) and Honda (-19.4%) all fall much faster than the market.

Previous post: Malaysia Full Year 2019: Perodua breaks records, Proton up 54.7% to highest share in 5 years

One year ago: Malaysia January 2019: New Aruz lifts Perodua up 13.7% in solid market up 8.5%

Full January 2020 Top 40 All-brands ranking below.