Toyota maintains pole position

 

Toyota has continued to claim the top spot as the best-selling non-national car make in Malaysia in the first quarter of 2009, with 17,313 units sold.

This is more than 6,600 units ahead of its nearest competitor.

Toyota has been the leader for the non-national makes for 19 consecutive years.

"Our March sales figures increased by 33 per cent to 7,113 units from 5,367 units in the previous month. Toyota Vios and Hilux remained the leader in their respective segments - small passenger car (1400cc to 1500cc) and four-wheel drive light-duty pick-ups, with market share of 49 per cent and 51.8 per cent respectively," UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd managing director Kuah Kock Heng said in a statement yesterday.

"We believe that both the Vios and Hilux will reach their targeted sales volume for this year," he added.

Since its introduction in 2003, a total of 128,170 units of Vios have been sold, making it the best selling Toyota model in Malaysia.

As for Toyota Hilux, 43,076 units have been sold since the current model's launch in 2005.

For the muiti-purpose vehicle (MPV) segment, Toyota is still the market leader with a total of 4,952 units sold for the first quarter of this year, 2,017 units more than its closest competitor.

March sales were 1,987 units with Toyota Avanza being the highest contributor with 1,332 units sold. To date, 117,946 units Toyota Avanza were sold since its introduction in 2004.

The company expects total industry volume will reach 480,000 units this year.