Isuzu Malaysia sets a 1.6% lower sales target for 2024 amid normalising market and subsidy rationalisation
Arvind · May 15, 2024 03:15 PM
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In conjunction with the launch of the new 2024 Isuzu D-Max facelift model, Isuzu Malaysia announced a sales target of 9,500 units for the year 2024. This figure represents a slight decrease from the 9,650 units sold in 2023, a bumper year that followed a record-breaking 2022 with sales of 9,211 units.
Shunsuke Okazoe, CEO of Isuzu Malaysia, commented on the challenges ahead, "This year will be more challenging due to the end of the post-Covid pent-up demand, as well as subsidy rationalisations forces. Nevertheless, with the latest D-Max model that we are launching today, we are confident in maintaining the sales momentum and achieving a strong market position."
The overall Malaysian automotive market is expected to normalize in 2024, following the conclusion of sales tax exemptions for locally assembled passenger cars, which were in place until March 2023. These measures contributed to a record high of 799,731 new car sales in 2023.
Notably, pick-up trucks like the Isuzu D-Max did not benefit from these tax exemptions, indicating that their strong sales figures in the past 2 years were primarily driven by pent-up demand.
Further bolstering its strategy, Isuzu Malaysia plans to enhance the customer purchase and ownership experience. Initiatives include a refreshed website featuring a 360-virtual showroom, upgraded showrooms reflecting Isuzu’s new corporate identity, and the digitization of the buying process with Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality test drive tools.
To recap, the fully imported (CBU, from Thailand) 2024 Isuzu D-Max facelift is offered in 8 variants (as before), priced as follows:
3.0 4x4 X-Terrain AT - RM 157,938
3.0 4x4 Premium AT - RM 141,138
1.9 4x4 Premium AT - RM 134,649
1.9 4x2 Auto Plus AT - RM 109,499
1.9 4x4 Standard AT - RM 116,999
1.9 4x4 Standard MT - RM 109,599
3.0 4x4 SC MT - RM 105,888
1.9 4x4 SC MT - RM 98,949
(SC – Single Cab)
Prices have seen increases across the range. In brief, all variants from the entry-level 1.9 4x4 SC MT to the 1.9 4x2 Auto Plus AT have gone up by RM 4k, whereas the 1.9 and 3.0 Premium variants are up by RM 5.5k. The X-Terrain has had the biggest price bump at RM 7k.
Arvind can't remember a time when he didn't wheel around a HotWheels car. This love evolved into an interest in Tamiya and RC cars and finally the real deal 1:1 scale stuff. Passion finally lead to formal training in Mechanical Engineering. Instead of the bigger picture, he obsesses with the final drive ratio and spring rates of cars and spends the weekends wondering why a Perodua Myvi is so fast.