Malaysia April 2020: COVID-19 lockdown halts new car sales (-99.7%)

Malaysia was under a nationwide lockdown during April. Picture Vincent Than/AP

The Malaysian nationwide “Movement Control Order”, a partial lockdown, was initiated to stem the spread of COVID-19 on March 18 and extended to May 12. The rise in confirmed cases has been drastically slowed, with 6.002 as of April 30 and 7.245 as of May 24. Even though the road transport department (JPJ) was closed for the entire month of April, according to local outlet Paultan.org it remained possible to register a car online during the lockdown, but the cars would not have road tax and full documentation, or be able to be collected. 141 new vehicles were registered in Malaysia in April, a -99.7% year-on-year drop compared to the 49.964 registered in April 2019 and pulling the year-to-date tally down -44.8% to 106.601. Only ten carmakers sell in Malaysia this month, with only four selling more than 10 units: Perodua (-99.7%), Honda (-99.6%), Proton (-99.7%) and Toyota (-99.8%), replicating last month’s Top 4.

Previous month: Malaysia March 2020: Coronavirus slashes sales down -60.8%

One year ago: Malaysia April 2019: New X70 lifts Proton up 75.3% to highest ranking at home in over 3 years

Full April 2020 Top 40 All-brands ranking below.