Only 5,383 Toyota cars were registered locally last month, which is down from 6,276 cars it sold in January 2024.
Now if just going by UMW Toyota’s recently circulated press release to the media, it might seem that the Japanese automaker had started 2025 with a pretty good January over here in terms of its sales performance. The big T brand has after all touted to have registered 5,383 cars in the last month, which in a vacuum does sound like pretty good going for it!
Though for those who have dug out what Toyota managed to sell during the same time over here last year, one might likely instead be thinking that the Japanese automaker should be on some form of life support. Such is as the 5,383 cars Toyota sold in January 2025 is actually nearly 1,000 units down from what it managed during the same time last year (Jan 2024: 6,276 units), as well as it being nearly 1,500 units down the year before that too (Jan 2023: 6,786 units).
So, what is to actually be the cause of this rather dramatic decrease in sales for what has been the top-selling non-national automaker in Malaysia for the last couple of years? Well, here are just a few possible factors that Automacha could think of:
Increased Competition From Other Brands
As many Malaysians will have likely already seen on the road these days, there are simply many more brands (all from China) that have since entered local auto market in recent years. And most of these new arrivals too are currently offering models that closely compete against Toyota’s bread and butter products locally.
It has to unfortunately be said that nearly all of the new Chinese competition have much better showroom appeal than what can be offered by the big T, with all these new arrivals coming crammed full of all the tech and all the luxury that the is not even found on Toyotas costing two or even three times their price.
And while none as yet have developed the solid reliable brand reputation of the Japanese stalwart yet, the incredibly long warranties that are currently being promoted by some of these new Chinese cars can and do basically see many traditionally Toyota buyers to finally say ok in taking a chance on something that they think offer more a lot more bang for their buck.
Somewhat Stale Current Lineup
While Toyota has indeed brought along to Malaysia the pair of petrolhead wet dreams in the form of the facelifted GR Yaris and GR Corolla in January, the actual volume-sellers local lineup however is looking a little stale come 2025.
The current Vios, Toyota’s best-selling model, has for instance been out since early 2023, and we in Malaysia are still contending with the Yaris hatchback that is based upon the prior-generation of Vios. What more is that while the Corolla Cross has recently received a revamp, the changes pretty much are limited to a new grille up front and a infotainment touchscreen within.
Also, we have yet to even touch upon the current iteration of Hilux yet, which behind its current macho visage is actually a pickup that first made its local appearance in 2016… And really, ruggedness and reliability could only take it so far, especially in the face of its newer and more refined rivals.
General Decline Of New Car Sales In Malaysia
Finally, in what may be a case of having buried the lede here a bit, it would be remissed not to highlight at the end that the Toyota’s local sales decline in January is likely not exclusive to the Japanese automaker. Such is because the total vehicle registrations in Malaysia actually declined by 23% in January 2025 relative to 2024, with only 53,930 cars being fitted with new number plates last month, compared to the 70,186 units from the year before.
This general decline in new car sales this year is something that has previously been anticipated by the industry at large, coming off from an all-time record high total industry volume exceeding 800,000 cars in 2024. What however still remains an unknown quantity is how big the drop will be in 2025 relative to last year’s numbers, with only time being able to answer that question 11 months down the line.
