Sales of medium and large buses and coaches contracted almost 50% to 87 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from 171 units a year earlier, resulting in a 56% drop in full-year sales to 275 units.

Malaysia’s prime mover segment (on-road tractor units) dropped by 34% to 400 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from strong year-earlier sales of 606 units, resulting in a 47% drop to 875 units over the full year.

Sales of rigid trucks over 2 tons gvw, excluding pickup trucks, increased by over 20% to 4,195 in the fourth quarter of 2020 after declining by almost 24% to 3,493 units in the same period of the previous year.

The Malaysian market for light vans and minibuses fell by almost 19% to 1,192 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from already weak-year earlier sales of 1,369 units, resulting in a fall of almost 45% to 3,093 units over the full year from 5,586 units in 2019.

Sales of pickup trucks rebounded strongly in the fourth quarter of 2020, by over 37% to 13,145 units from 9,580 units in the same period of the previous year, wiping out most of the earlier declines and resulting in a fall in full-year sales of just 3.7% to 33,034 units.

The Malaysian commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw rebounded strongly in the fourth quarter of 2020, by 25% to 18,868 units from weak year-earlier earlier sales of 15,099 units, according to www.AsiaMotorBusiness.com analysis of industry data.

Sales of medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles over 5 tons gvw are estimated to have decreased by 56% year-on-year to 2,044 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 after rising by close to 20% to 4,610 units in the same period of the previous year.

Sales of pickup trucks declined by almost 17% to 13,227 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from 15,847 units in the same period of the previous year, resulting in full-year sales falling by more than 41% to 40,187 units from strong year-earlier sales of 68,355 units.

The Philippine market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw continued to plunge in the fourth quarter of 2020, by close to 32% to 22,161 units from 32,405 units a year earlier, according to www.AsiaMotorBusiness.com analysis of data sourced from the industry.

Japan’s market for medium and large buses and coaches continued to shrink in the fourth quarter of 2020, by almost 39% to 1,564 units after declining by 20% to 2,550 units in the same period of last year, as demand for public service buses remained depressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan’s medium and heavy truck market over 4.5 tons gvw increased by almost 13% to 40,062 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 after declining by almost 20% to 35,518 units a year earlier, reflecting a sharp rebound in fixed investment and exports.

Japan’s market for light commercial vehicles between 2.0 & 4.5 tons gvw expanded by just over 4% to 57,210 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from weak year-earlier sales of 54,981 units, resulting in a decline of just over 13% to 267,007 units over the full-year.