A total of 996 new vehicles were sold in October, a 2.2% m/m contraction but an increase of 38.7% y/y from the 718 vehicles sold in October 2021. Year-to-date 8,928 new vehicles have been sold, of which 4,541 were passenger vehicles, 3,818 light commercial vehicles, and 569 medium and heavy commercial vehicles. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, a total of 10,417 new vehicles were sold at the end of October, representing an 11.5% y/y increase from the 9,343 sold over the comparable period a year ago.
466 new passenger vehicles were sold during the month, a 7.7% m/m contraction from the 505 sold in September, but a 29.4% y/y increase from the 360 vehicles sold in October 2021. Toyota’s sales accounted for 46.6% of the new passenger vehicles in October. On a 12-month cumulative basis, new passenger vehicle sales have increased by 19.6% y/y to 5,282, the highest level since March 2018. Year-to-date, new passenger vehicle sales rose to 4,541, an increase of 21.3% from the 3,743 vehicles sold during the same period last year.
530 new commercial vehicles were sold in October, representing an increase of 3.3% m/m and 48.5% y/y, the highest year-on-year growth rate since May 2021. The year-on-year increase was almost exclusively driven by an increase in light commercial vehicle sales, with medium- and heavy commercial vehicle sales roughly in line with last year. Light commercial vehicles sales rose by 55.9% y/y to 460, medium commercial vehicle sales rose by 9.1% y/y to 24, and heavy commercial vehicles sales increased by 15.0% y/y to 46. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, light commercial vehicle sales increased by 6.4% to 4,449, while medium commercial vehicle sales fell by 1.6% to 186 and heavy commercial vehicles decreased by 9.4% to 500.
Toyota continues to lead the new passenger vehicle sales with 32.9% of the segment sales year-to-date, followed by Volkswagen with 22.2% of the market share. The two top brands continue to maintain their large gap over the rest of the market, followed by Kia and Suzuki with 9.1% and 7.7% of the market, respectively, leaving the remaining 28.2% to other brands.
On a year-to-date basis, Toyota maintained its dominance in the light commercial vehicle space with 47.5% market share, followed by Nissan with 12.0% of the market. Hino continues to lead the medium commercial vehicle segment with 32.7% of sales year-to-date. In the heavy and extra-heavy commercial vehicle market, Scania retained its position as leader with 26.3% market share.
The Bottom Line
New vehicle sales declined marginally to 996, following August and September new vehicle sales that breached the 1,000 mark. The year-to-date chart at the top of this report shows that new vehicle sales have recovered well this year and are very much in line with the numbers last seen in 2019. October’s new passenger vehicle sales figure of 466 was marginally above the 454 average monthly figure witnessed so far this year. By comparison, the average monthly passenger vehicle sales figure in 2021 was 373. On a 12-month cumulative basis, new passenger vehicle sales of 5,282 are in line with the numbers seen in 2018. New commercial vehicle sales have similarly recovered, but October’s 12-month cumulative figure of 5,135 still lags the pre-pandemic 2019 average of 6,300. Still, monthly new commercial vehicle sales have averaged 439 this year, compared to 412 in 2021 and 367 in 2020, with October’s 530 sales well above this year’s monthly average.
