Myanmar Vehicles Industry dramatically changed in the 2018, with volumes increased 71.6%, hitting an all-time record with 11.882 units sold. The introduction of several restrictions on right-hand-drive imports and the opening of a new Ford plant has boosted demand.
Economic Environment
The manufacturing sector ended 2018 on a strong footing, with the PMI rising to a seven-month high in December thanks to strong output and new orders growth. As a result, employment in the sector posted its first gains since June, leading to a reduction in capacity constraints and backlogs of work. Output expectations, however, remained underwhelming despite a boost in sentiment due to increasing new business orders.
Economic growth should pick up this year, partly owing to robust regional activity. However, persistent large twin deficits, the potential loss of preferential market access to the EU and conflict in the Rakhine region pose downside risks. The panel sees growth at 6.9% in 2019, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast, and 7.2% in 2020.
Market Trend
Myanmar vehicles market is under the effects of the introduction of new rules aiming to progressively change origin of circulating car park, actually generated mainly by the import of used vehicles from Japan, starting up a local industry of small, modern, low consumption-low emission vehicles.
As reported in the previous post on this country, a key decision taken by the government was to ban the import of right-hand-drive vehicles and after one-and-half year of “recommended policy” this become a rule since July 2018.
The effect of this law is sharp for Japanese brands and has already drastically reduced the import of used vehicles. Traders had been forced to change their suppliers searching for vehicles sourced from others ASEAN countries, losing the most of the economic advantage so far found in import from Japan.
Becoming more competitive in terms of price, the new vehicles sector finally have full attention of local consumers and following the steady expansion shown in the recent years, in the 2018 the market really boomed.
The growth is driven by the fast growing of the new local industry with the availability of local made models offered at affordable price, with great success for Ford (Ranger and Everest) and Suzuki (Ertiga, Carry, Ciaz).
The 2018 ended with sales at the new record of 11.882 units, up a roaring 71.6%
| Market | Sales 2014 | Sales 2015 | Sales 2016 | Sales 2017 | Sales 2018 | '+/- 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car+LCV | 4.077 | 6.165 | 5.288 | 6.924 | 11.882 | 71,6% |
The competitive landscape has deeply changed in the 2018 with Ford becoming the new market leader, having sold 1.995 units (+191.2%) ahead of Suzuki and Nissan while Toyota dropped in 4th place.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for top Brands
