MAA reports Malaysia’s January 2026 automotive sales rose 27% year-on-year, though TIV remained 29% below December 2025.
Production Up 6%, Sales Up 27%
The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) reported a festive January 2026 for the country’s automotive industry, with a 6 per cent increase in production and a 27 per cent rise in sales compared to the same period last year.
Production number stood at 60,866 units, a 6 per cent increase from January 2025. This year, a total of 57,367 passenger vehicles and 3,499 commercial vehicles were produced, marking a 6 per cent and 13 per cent improvement for each category, both year-on-year and year-to-date.
In sales, passenger vehicles led the volume. With 60,639 units sold within the month, the segment saw a 28 per cent growth against January 2025, when only 47,019 units were sold. Meanwhile, commercial vehicle sales climbed 15 per cent. In January 2025, 3,430 vehicles were sold, and in January 2026, the figure rose to 3,929. Combined, the rise in sales stood at 27 per cent, both year-on-year and year-to-date.
According to the MAA, despite the significant increase in both production and sales compared to January 2025, total industry volume (TIV) of January 2026 was still 29 per cent lower than December 2025, when the Malaysian automotive industry reached its all-time TIV peak of 90,716 units.
The association explained that the lower TIV in January 2026 was mainly attributed to advance purchases made in December 2025. At the same time, higher TIV in January 2026 compared to January 2025 was the result of the spill-over effect from new model launches at the end of last year. This means that everything that happened in January 2026 was mainly caused by what happened in December 2025.
For February 2026, the MAA expected sales to slow down due to a short working month contributed by the Chinese New Year holidays.
