KUALA LUMPUR: Car dealers in the country posted total losses of more than RM14bil in June and July due to plunge in sales of vehicles – the impact on the whole ecosystem, including revenue loss from the closure of showrooms.
Following the movement control order (MCO), the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said the local automotive industry had suffered huge losses.
Motor vehicles production plants, distributions centres and sales centres, especially in the Klang Valley, were halted since June 1, 2021.
The MAA, whose members have around 1,300 dealers throughout the country, said the shutdown affected not only the automotive companies but had wider repercussions on the entire automotive eco-system nationwide.
“Sales and production of motor vehicles for the past two and a half months had been greatly hampered.
“Based on MAA’s latest statistics, sales amounted to only 1,921 units and 7,086 units for June and July 2021, respectively,” MAA said in a statement.
On average, sales or better known as total industry volume (TIV) stood at 45,000 to 50,000 units per month.
Total industry production for June and July 2021 were only 276 units and 2,775 units, respectively, which was a sharp decline compared with the average total production of between 40,000 units and 50,000 units per month.
The MAA said the most severely impacted by the lockdown were car dealers of MAA members, particularly the smaller ones that rely solely on incomes from the sale of new vehicles.
It added that many of them are facing severe cashflow problems and have difficulties retaining their employees, especially sales advisers.
However, MAA president Datuk Aishah Ahmad said members had also lost much in terms of revenue from exports of vehicles and components, and sales of spare parts locally.
MAA president Datuk Aishah Ahmad
“All in all, these losses had been very substantial and unprecedented. Total losses for the past two months (June and July 2021) was more than RM14bil. This is just only from sales of vehicles in the domestic market.”
Hoping to put behind the severe impact from the MCO, the MAA thanked the government, especially the International Trade and Industry Ministry, for the re-opening of a number of economic activities including sales and production of motor vehicles in states under phase one of the National Recovery Plan effective yesterday.
“The industry cannot sustain itself if the shutdown is prolonged. Many of us are bleeding. We have used up much of our savings over the past one year. So, it is a huge relief that finally we are allowed to resume our businesses and to revive our industry,” she said.
As for the Covid-19 vaccination, Aishah said MAA members had registered for the immunisation programmes for their employees.
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Many companies had started their vaccination programmes to complement the government’s efforts to get as many people as possible to be vaccinated by October.
Many MAA member companies’ employees have already received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine while a few companies had almost all of their employees fully vaccinated by now.