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.

January 2020 saw Hap Seng Trucks Distribution Sdn Bhd and Daimler Trucks Asia launch a new heavy Fuso truck, the Mitsubishi-Fuso FJ1828R on the Malaysian market.

MAN Truck and Bus (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, the Malaysian unit of MAN Germany, in January appointed Andrew O’Brooks as its new managing director.

Bus assembly, repair and service group, Terus Maju Services Sdn Bhd has launched the TMS bus chassis on the local market, which is in fact supplied by Chinese bus manufacturer, Zhongtong Bus Holding Company of Liaocheng, Shandong Province.

Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd, a conglomerate with significant vehicle distribution operations in the region, has proposed to buy out the minority shareholders of its Malaysian vehicle dealer group, Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd and take the company private.

UD Trucks Malaysia unveiled its new Quester heavy-duty truck in Malaysia at this year’s recent Malaysia Commercial Vehicle Expo 2019.

UD Trucks Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volvo Group since 2007), has joined forces with Japanese logistics firm, Nippon Express, and Hokkaido-based agriculture cooperative, Hokuren, to bring autonomous driving technology to farm equipment.