Robust car sales in 2H 2012: Maybank IB

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian motor vehicle sector is expected to witness
robust sales in the second half of this year and boost the 2012 total
industry volume (TIV), said Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB).

The
bank said going forward, it expected a seasonal surge (pre-Hari Raya
Aidilfiltri) to provide an extra boost to TIV over the next two months.

"The
recently-launched Toyota Camry and Honda Civic models are expected to
cause a spike in the TIV of their respective marques in the near term,"
Maybank IB said in a research note today.

However, Maybank IB
said competing new launches among peers in the pre-Raya push for sales
will raise advertising and promotion expenses, which will pressure the
margins.


It said the strong US dollar and the yen against the ringgit will also
impact the margins, as component costs were largely denominated in
these currencies.

The TIV volume increased to 301,224 units in the January-June period this year from 297,203 in the same period last year.

Maybank IB said despite multiple headwinds in the beginning of the year, year-to-date TIV was in line with its expectation.

"As
such, we maintain our TIV forecast at 612,000 for 2012," it said,
adding that it has maintained the 'overweight' call on the motor
vehicle sector. -- BERNAMA