Toyota goals to overhaul Honda in gross sales this yr and reclaim the No.1 non-national spot from its Japanese counterpart. The mission was acknowledged in UMW Holdings Berhad’s company presentation that was launched this month. The conglomerate is almost all shareholder in UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT), the importer and distributor of Toyota and Lexus autos in Malaysia.
The mission to “reclaim market management within the non-national section” will probably be supported by the launch of recent fashions. Earlier this month, UMWT unveiled the Fortuner facelift and Innova facelift, with the Corolla Cross C-segment SUV to observe within the second quarter of the yr. There will even be a brand new sedan and one other “GR mannequin”, each of which will probably be unveiled in This fall 2021.
The presentation slide additionally reveals that UMWT plans to “safe new CKD fashions for C-segment and business” this yr. The C-segment mannequin set to be regionally assembled ought to be the Corolla Cross, which debut in Thailand mid 2020. The corporate can also be wanting on the “introduction of extra CKD hybrid autos transferring ahead”. The Corolla Cross has a hybrid variant, so the Corolla Cross Hybrid – a traditional non-plug-in hybrid – is a candidate for native meeting.
New merchandise apart, UMWT will look to its in-house Toyota Capital and banks for “modern financing packages” as an avenue for development. Different channels recognized embody e-commerce, the place Toyota plans to introduce its personal platform to enhance the prevailing official shops on Lazada and Shopee. The corporate additionally intends to widen its buyer base, with authorities fleet gross sales and pre-owned autos recognized as potential development areas.
Again to Toyota’s 2021 mission, which is to reclaim the No.1 non-national make title from Honda. The objective is anticipated, as there aren’t many markets on this planet, if in any respect, that Honda sits above Toyota, the world’s top-selling carmaker.
Honda has been the top-selling international make in Malaysia since 2015, when it overtook Toyota for the primary time ever. It then went on to attain 109,511 items in 2017, the best annual complete ever for a non-national model in Malaysia.
Whereas it nearly retained the No.1 non-national spot final yr, Honda’s 60,468 items offered in 2020 was its lowest because the days that it was duelling with Nissan (2013). In the meantime, Toyota offered 58,501 items final yr, a smaller drop in comparison with Honda. Since dropping out to Honda in 2015, Toyota skilled a pointy decline and gross sales had settled within the 60-70k band ever since, save for 2020’s small dip. As they completed neck-to-neck in 2020, it’s all to play for this yr – could one of the best Japanese group win!
Do you know that Honda used to duel with Nissan in gross sales whereas Toyota was on a special aircraft altogether, usually posting gross sales above 100k items? Comply with us as we observe the ups and downs of Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda over the previous decade, and see the place are they now.
