We love our cars all right. Malaysians purchased 385,353 vehicles in the primary half of 2026, which is up 3% in comparison with the 373,636 units recorded in the identical period last 12 months, in accordance with the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).
With 49% of MAA’s original 2026 total industry volume (TIV) forecast of 790,000 units already achieved, and with another (traditionally stronger) half of the 12 months to go, the auto distributor’s club has revised upwards its projected TIV forecast to 800,000 units. By the best way, TIV hit a record 820,752 units last 12 months, topping the previous high of 816,747 from 2024, so there’s trend.
Which segments gained, and what went down? If you happen to answered EVs, spot on. Sales of electrical vehicles rose by a whopping 106% year-on-year in 1H 2026, from 12,733 to 26,192 units. Sales of hybrid vehicles rose too, but at a less spectacular rate of 43% (17,840 to 25,590 units). Should this trend proceed, 2026 can be the primary 12 months that can see EVs outsell hybrids in Malaysia.
Nevertheless, even with this massive growth, the EV share of the general TIV is just 6.8%, which could surprise some given how much hype the battery-powered cars get (which is just normal, as many recent launches are EVs). Include hybrids and sales of electrified vehicles grew by 69% y-o-y, from 1H 2025’s 30,573 to 51,782 units. That’s 13.4% of TIV.
MAA doesn’t share numbers by brand, but when we take a look at Proton’s figures, it’s clear that EV market leader eMas 5 contributed an enormous chunk – in the primary half of 2026, they sold 10,665 units of the inexpensive EV. The larger eMas 7, in second place, found 2,865 homes in 1H 2026. Note that MAA’s figures don’t include Tesla registrations, as that company isn’t a member of the association.
MAA identified that the SUV sub-category grew by 19% in the primary half, and this is just not something surprising. Back within the day, SUVs were off-roaders and area of interest vehicles nevertheless it’s now the default bodystyle for family cars above RM100k. In the highest 20 models of 1H 2026 (JPJ data), there are seven SUVs – Proton X50, Perodua Traz, Perodua Ativa, Honda HR-V, Toyota Corolla Cross, Chery Tiggo (whole range) and Proton eMas 7 PHEV. Eight if you happen to count the Perodua Aruz, which we consider an SUV-styled MPV.
Then again, sales of pick-up trucks saw a decline of 19%. That is in fact resulting from high diesel prices prior to the brand new Budi Diesel subsidy programme, which saw it go in step with the Budi95 petrol subsidy scheme last month. High pump prices scared off non-commercial users, or the ‘lifestyle’ truck buyers. There are a few outliers, but pick-ups are largely diesel-powered.
Finally – and maybe most importantly for the Malaysian auto industry – national makes carved out a 67% share of the auto sales pie, leaving just 33% for everybody else. It’s a four-point jump for Proton-Perodua in comparison with 1H 2025, when the national-non ratio was 63:37.
It was so, so different a decade ago. We’ve dived deep into this national vs non-national trend before, tracking the ups and downs of Perodua/Proton and Toyota/Honda through the years. More recently, Chinese brands have created huge waves in our market. Click on the links to read more if you happen to’re into stats and trends.
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This Article First Appeared At paultan.org
