Hybrid Car Sales in Malaysia Plunged by 44.5%

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) revealed the sales report for the first half of the ongoing year, which showed a decline of 44.5% as compared to the previous year for the same period. Premium car makers like Audi, Lexus and Honda were hit severely managing zero, seven and two unit sales respectively in first six months of 2015. Whereas, the count was 90 for Audi, 4,235 for Honda and 100 for Lexus from Jan-Jun in the previous year.

The other German Giant, BMW also failed in rolling out a single hybrid vehicle from the showrooms. The previous year wasn't really impressive, as it recorded only one sale. However, the figures for another leading German car manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz weren't out yet and the curiosity for the same is limited to the sky.

Datuk Aishah Ahmad, MAA President said that the reason for such a terrific downfall in sales of hybrid vehicles in the country is probably due to demolition of tax incentives for CBU hybrid vehicles indicating an upper hand for the CKD hybrid vehicles.

Although, the sales chart doesn't have anything positive to hail, but for the companies like Nissan and Toyota there is a reason to smile and rejoice the present time. Nissan recorded a total number of 1,328 cars sold for the period from January to June 2015, which is 249 units more as compared to the previous year. While Toyota registered a rise from 502 units in 2014 to an astounding figure of 1,996 units this year. Toyota not only produced impressive sale numbers this year in terms of hybrid vehicles but also ranked no. 1 with a 298% rise from 2014, all thanks to its 2015 Toyota Camry Hybrid.

A total of 3,333 hybrid vehicles were sold in first six months of 2015, which was 6,007 in 2014 for the same period.

Talking about the electric vehicles, they registered a marginal growth with a total of 32 units sold in this year's first half, while the previous two years saw a total of 17 units in 2013 and 24 units in 2014. Only, Renault came out to be the best car brand in terms of EVs with a steady increase in sales from 2013. The rise can be dedicated to the two new models introduced in the same period, which are Twizy and Zoe.