THE local automotive industry ended the first half of 2026 on a high note, driven by strong consumer demand, aggressive promotional campaigns and surging interest in electric and hybrid vehicles.
With bookings remaining robust and automakers ramping up local production, analysts believe the sector is well-positioned to sustain its growth momentum in the months ahead.
June 2026 total industry volume (TIV) soared 11% month-on-month (MoM) and 23% year-on-year (YoY) on longer working months after consecutive public holidays and on attractive sales promotion in conjunction with the KL International Mobility Show 2026.
“For the month of July 2026, we expect sales to remain strong on continuous sales promotion and longer working months,” said Kenanga.
For the first half of calendar year 2026 (1HCY26), key highlights are EV sales rising significantly to 26,192 units (+106%) as global automakers clear existing complete build up (CBU) inventories while transitioning towards localised complete knockdown (CKD) assembly.
Hybrid vehicles sales were also strong at 25,590 units (+43%) from which Kenanga expected to continue even stronger in the 2HFCY26 on the successful launch of Proton eMas 7 PHEV.
The commercial segment’s 1HCY26 sales remained weaker by 11%, specifically for pick-up trucks segments due to high diesel prices prior to the new Budi Diesel subsidy programme.
National marques (66% TIV) stood their ground. This was seen in Perodua (41% TIV) and Proton (25% TIV), backed by strong sustained demand in the affordable segment, and attractive new launches.
In the non-national marques segment, for the month of June 2026, Honda took 1 st place at 29% of TIV market share, leaving Toyota behind at 2nd place at 26% as Honda offers larger rebates/discounts compared to Toyota.
BYD at the third place at 6% on stock clearing promotion overtaking Mazda which at the fourth place at 5% due to lower CBU delivery of Mazda 3, and Chery at 5th place at 4% (despite having ICEs/Hybrids models) which Kenanga believed was due to dilution of the market share in the non-nationals segment due to new launches and attractive discounting/rebates promotion.
In general, the industry’s earnings visibility is still good, backed by a booking backlog of 152k units as at end-June 2026.
This is higher than average booking of 140k units in 2025 largely due to the addition of all-new Proton Saga reaching 90k units backlogs, limited by production capacity.
More than half of the backlog is made up of new models, alluding to the appeal of new models to car buyers.
Meanwhile, the EV sales will continue delivering robust sales as global automakers clear existing CBU inventories while transitioning towards localised CKD assembly.—July 22, 2026
Main image: Adobe Stock
