KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 15): UMW Holdings Bhd said it started the new year on an encouraging note as both UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd (UMWT) and its associate company Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) registered healthy automotive sales in January due to the sales tax exemption incentive which has now been extended to June 30.

In a statement, it said UMWT achieved sales of 3,845 units in January 2021, which was 4.1% higher than the 3,692 units registered in the same month of last year.

The group said Toyota Vios, Yaris and Hilux continue to be UMWT’s best-selling models last month.

Besides, it added that UMWT also introduced the updated Toyota Fortuner and Innova on Feb 2. 

“The 2021 Toyota Fortuner comes in two variants with styling, performance and safety updates, while retaining all the strong attributes that make it a popular SUV nationwide. The new 2021 Toyota Innova range, which comes in three variants, also has updated styling and features as well as additional safety systems which have been made standard,” said the group.

Meanwhile, Perodua registered sales of 16,894 units in January 2021 and targets to sell 240,000 units this year, a 9% increase over the 220,163 units sold in 2020, according to UMW.

The group said Perodua also plans to increase its stock by targeting to increase production to 272,000 vehicles this year — the highest in its history and, in the process, will purchase a record RM6.5 billion worth of locally-sourced components in 2021 which will bode well for the local automotive industry.

UMW president and group chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Kenali noted that the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) has forecast that the total industry volume will grow by nearly 8% to 570,000 units in 2021, underpinned by the projected gross domestic product growth of between 6.5% and 7.5% in 2021 as well as continued support from the government.

“Both UMWT and Perodua will continue to focus on introducing new and improved models and offer superior after-sales services to satisfy our customers’ requirements and expectations in order to achieve our targets in 2021,” he said.

At the time of writing, shares of UMW had risen 12 sen or 4.24% to RM2.95, bringing a market capitalisation of RM3.45 billion. It saw some 199,100 shares traded.