Growth slows sharply in Q1 across East Asia’s CV markets
By Jim Gibbins - 1st June 2019
East Asia – The market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw in East Asia’s seven main markets (excluding China) grew at a sharply slower rate in the first quarter of 2019, with sales rising by just 2.7% to 431,041 units from 419,562 units in the same period of last year, according to data compiled by www.AsiaMotorBusiness.com from numerous industry sources.
This follows year-on-year growth of 12% in the fourth quarter of 2018 and reflects significant declines in key markets such as Indonesia and South Korea as well as sharply lower sales in smaller markets such as Vietnam and Malaysia. Economic growth in the first quarter slowed in most countries in the region, with Japan the only exception with GDP growth outperforming all expectations.
