Excluding Thailand, sales increased by 20%, mostly from the recovery in Indonesia, while sales in Malaysia were stable. In fact, the increase in Indonesia was so strong that, coupled with small increases in other markets, it helped maintain level regional sales in the month of August.

Annual sales for the region as a whole remained at around 3.05 million, with the firm saying that stronger positive momentum in Vietnam and the Philippines should be sufficient to offset the worsening outlook in Indonesia.

Once again, sales in Thailand declined, with a drop of 31% in August. Monthly sales stood at just above 66k units, from 96k last year. Annual sales are currently expected around 844k units, unchanged from the previous outlook. It added: ‘The monthly SAAR was around 817k, slightly better than last month, but still far lower than the average of 857k. As yet, we do not see any signs of recovery, contrary to wider speculation.’

Sales in Malaysia were essentially stable year‐on‐year, registering around 51k units in August. The slow momentum prompted the firm to cut the annual outlook slightly to around 658k units, which is on the upward side, as two new key models from Proton and Perodua were launched recently, which could boost sales in the later part of the year. However, LMCA currently projects that any resulting positive impact on the market will be limited. The SAAR in August was 606k, much lower than the average of 658k.

In contrast to Malaysia, sales in Indonesia recovered quickly from last month, registering growth of 28% year‐on‐year. August sales stood at almost 90k units. Although the growth was in line with our projection, it was weaker than the company had previously anticipated. As a result, LMCA cut around 31k units from the annual outlook to around 1.15 million units. The SAAR declined from its peak in February of around 1.26 million units to around 1.10 million units in August.

Ongoing strong growth was also evident in the Philippines and Vietnam, although with far more limited volume. Increases during August reached around 40% in each market. Accordingly, LMCA made further upward adjustments to the annual projections for both markets. It added that it now sees 262k units and 141k units, respectively.