The decline in auto industry sales in ASEAN quickened as of October this year to 33.9 percent as sales further slowed down two months before the year 2020 ends.
Data from the ASEAN Automotive Federation showed there were only 248,424 units sold in October bringing total regional sales to 1,885,443 units sold in the first ten months of the year as against 2,852,518 units in the same period last year.
Among ASEAN countries, Indonesia reported the biggest decline at 50.5 percent as it sold 421,089 units only from 851,222 units sold last year. Thailand performed better with 608,880 units sold or 27.4 percent lower than 838,968 units sold in the first ten months last year.
Malaysia posted a 19.9 percent decrease to 398,159 units from 496,855 units last year. Vietnam also tempered its decline with 212,409 units sold, just 18.1 percent down from 259,315 units sold in the January-October period in 2019.
Philippines registered a hefty decline of 42.7 percent as sales plummeted to 173,035 units only from 301,761 units last year. Other ASEAN markets, including Singapore contributed 45,506 units, Brunei 11,220 units and Myanmar 15,145 units.
In terms of motor vehicle production, the region continued output cutbacks. As of October, ASEAN countries produced only 2,223,874 units, reflecting 36.8 percent decline from 3,617,688 units in the same period last year.
Thailand, ASEAN’s car production hub, was able to produce only 1,112,426 units or 35.5 percent lower than 1,725,414 units in the same period last year. Indonesia, ASEAN’s largest market, registered a 48.9 percent decrease with output of 549,577 units only as against 1,075,588 units in 2019.
Malaysia was able to manufacture 374,494 units as against 481,428 units in 2019 or a negative 22.2 percent growth. Vietnam was able to produce 120,556 units, just 16.4 percent shy from its 144,182-unit production level in the same first ten months last year.
The Philippines’ output dropped by 29.8 percent to 54,894 units from 78,211 units produced in the first 10 months of 2019.