Top 20 best-selling non-national cars in Malaysia YTD Oct 2024 – Japanese brands still dominate top 10

Earlier, we showed you the top ten best-selling cars in Malaysia for the year to date up to October 2024, but stripping away the dominant national cars has revealed some interesting takeaways. As previously mentioned, the Toyota Vios is the non-national leader, with 2,775 units sold last month and 22,905 across the past ten months.

The B-segment sedan holds a slim lead over its fierce rival, the Honda City, which racked up 2,320 sales in October and 22,757 YTD. This is despite the Toyota’s slow start to the year, likely due to a recall issued in January.

Notably, the City’s figure includes both the sedan and the hatchback, whereas the Yaris – ninth in the standings with 957 units sold in October and 8,453 units YTD – is considered separate from the Vios (and likely includes negligible sales of the GR Yaris). Put Toyota’s two B-segment offerings together and they would far surpass the City, overtaking even the Perodua Ativa.

In third place sits the Toyota Hilux with 2,208 units sold in October (19,917 units YTD), followed by the Honda HR-V with 1,550 units (16,664 units YTD). The latter has far outstripped the Toyota Corolla Cross, which languishes in sixth with sales of 1,140 units in October and 11,987 YTD.

Between the two SUVs is the ever-popular Toyota Alphard, although we should point out that the vast majority of registrations will likely be of reconditioned cars and therefore not sold by UMW Toyota Motor. The same will be true of the Harrier in 16th, registrations of which hit 511 units in October and 5,499 units YTD.

The other noteworthy car on the list is another MPV, the Mitsubishi Xpander, which squeaked into the top ten with October sales of 729 units (helped by the launch of the facelifted model in September) and YTD sales of 7,187 units. As you can see, the best-sellers list has been completely swept by Japanese brands, proving they still hold the upper hand.

You’d have to look down to 12th place to find the first Chinese car on the list, the Chery Omoda 5. This crossover sold well in the first half of the year, battling the Corolla Cross for a spot in the top six, but sales fell dramatically in the wake of a snapped axle issue in April, which led to a recall. Strong competition – including from within Chery’s stable itself – also contributed to October sales of just 295 units, despite the still-healthy YTD figure of 6,784 units.

Speaking of strong competition, the other Chinese entrant is the Chery Tiggo in 20th, with October sales of 435 units and a YTD figure of 3,808 units. The Road Transport Department’s (JPJ) registration data does not state whether it is the five-seater Tiggo 7 Pro or the seven-seater Tiggo 8 Pro, but our money is on both being combined into a single entry. That would explain the sudden jump in sales in July (769 units), corresponding to the launch of the Tiggo 7 Pro the previous month.

Just missing the cut is the Jaecoo J7, with cumulative registrations of 3,783 units for the year to date. However, the upstart SUV has been selling extremely well since the start of deliveries in August, hitting 1,579 units in October; the car is on course to leapfrog several positions on this list by the time the year ends.

Monthly sales of well over 1,000 units would be enough to rival those of the HR-V and the Corolla Cross, but we’ll have to see if this strong momentum can be sustained throughout the rest of the year and into 2025.

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