SUV sales in Malaysia increased by 43% in 2021, while normal passenger vehicle sales decreased by roughly 20%.
Malaysians enjoy riding high and have demonstrated this with their money. According to figures issued by the Malaysian Automotive Association, SUVs and 4x4s accounted for 136,497 units out of a total of 508,911 cars sold in Malaysia last year, a 43 percent increase over the 95,477 units sold in 2020.
Normal passenger automobiles, on the other hand, had a nearly one-fifth decline in volume, or 19.7%, to 282,155 units last year, down from 351,198 units sold in 2020. This compares to a total of 452,663 passenger vehicles sold in 2021, which is down 5.9% from the 480,971 passenger vehicles sold in 2020.
With 28,774 units sold in the first week of the year, the Proton X50 established itself as the national carmaker's best-selling SUV and also the most popular SUV in the country, ranking it second only to the Proton Saga sedan in the brand's lineup.
Keeping with the SUV theme, the Proton X70 was the best-selling C-segment SUV in the country last year, with 16,375 units sold. In 2021, Proton sold 45,149 SUVs, accounting for over 40% of its 114,708 cars sold in Malaysia and abroad the previous year.
While Perodua normally leads the sales statistics and has done so again for 2021, it was beaten to the top spot in the SUV stakes by the Ativa, which debuted in March and sold 26,847 units compared to the X50's 28,774 units. The Aruz, on the other hand, sold 15,313 units last year. The Ativa and Aruz accounted for 22 percent of Perodua's total sales of 190,291 vehicles in 2021.