KUALA LUMPUR: UMW Group Holdings Bhd's automotive sales grew 20.4 per cent to 24,972 in January from 20,740 units recorded in the same month in 2021.
The conglomerate said this was spurred by its subsidiary UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd and associate company Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua).
UMW said it continued to fulfil its encouraging outstanding order book from the two marquees - Toyota and Perodua.
UMW Toyota almost doubled its sales in January with 7,528 units, 95.8 per cent higher than the 3,845 units registered in the corresponding month of 2021.
Toyota Vios, Hilux and Yaris continue to be UMW Toyota's best-selling models in January.
Addtionally, UMW Toyota has expanded its product offering into the electrified vehicle space, with the launch of the Toyota Corolla Cross recently, its first locally-assembled Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) on the Toyota New Global Architecture platform.
UMW Toyota believes this would pave the way for the introduction of more HEVs and electric vehicles in Malaysia as consumers aspire towards a cleaner drive, which was an evident from the encouraging orders received for the Corolla Cross HEV since it was open for booking in October 2021.
Perodua registered sales of 17,444 units last month, 3.2 per cent higher than the 16,895 units registered in January 2021.
The national car company has targeted to sell 247,800 units this year, a 30 per cent increase over the 190,291 units sold in 2021.
It planned to increase production to 265,900 vehicles this year, while in pursuit to buy a record RM7.5 billion of locally-sourced components in 2022 to sustain and strengthen the local automotive industry.
UMW group president and group chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Kenali said it was pleased with the improved sales registered by both UMW Toyota and Perodua in the first month of 2022.
"The group expects the growth in automotive sales will continue in the coming months supported by the introduction of exciting new models as well as the sales tax exemption," he added.
The Malaysian Automotive Association expects the total industry volume to grow nearly 18 per cent to 600,000 units in 2022, underpinned by the projected gross domestic product growth of between 5.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent this year.
This will be primarily due to the continued support from the government as well as improving consumer confidence.
"Both UMW Toyota and Perodua will continue to focus on introducing new and improved models and offer superior after-sales services to meet our customers' requirements and expectations in order to achieve our targets in 2022," Ahmad Fuaad said.
