Malawi Auto Market has lost near 10% in the 2017 mirroring the harsh economic environment, with national GDP growth only 4.5% standing among the lowest in the World. Market is stagnating and dominated by Toyota, holding near the half.
Malawi’s GDP 2017 growth rate is expected to rebound to about 4.5% from 2.5% in 2016. Improved weather patterns with increased rainfall in 2017 are expected to result in higher levels of agricultural output than were recorded in 2015 and 2016. Agriculture contributes 30% of GDP. The country’s headline inflation rate continues to decelerate faster than anticipated, falling to 9.3% in August 2017, compared to 22.8% in August 2016. This downward trend has largely been due to a sustained decline in food prices resulting from the increased availability of maize, and a stable exchange rate.
Malawi’s new vehicles market was in recent years is stable at still low-level as consumer’s prefer to buy used imported vehicles, more affordable for the low local income. After the peak of 1.877 sales achieved in the 2013, market is stagnating and according to data released by the Association of Car Importers, in the 2017 total vehicles sales have been 1.793, down 9.9%.
| Sales 2012 | Sales 2013 | Sales 2014 | Sales 2015 | Sales 2016 | Sales 2017 | Sales 2018 e | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car+LCV | 943 | 1.826 | 1.536 | 1.600 | 1.630 | 1.605 | 1.674 |
| HCV | - | 51 | 51 | 156 | 157 | 188 | 190 |
| Total | 943 | 1.877 | 1.587 | 1.756 | 1.787 | 1.793 | 1.864 |
| 2012 Var | 2013 Var | 2014 Var | 2015 Var | 2016 Var | 2017 Var | 2018 var e | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car+LCV | 3,6% | 16,9% | -16,7% | 28,7% | -12,6% | -13,5% | -5,9% |
| HCV | -17,3% | 2,8% | -74,7% | 503,6% | -17,2% | 18,2% | 16,0% |
| Total | 1,1% | 15,6% | -21,7% | 42,0% | -13,2% | -9,9% | -2,6% |
Sales are concentrated and Toyota is the dominator with 46% of market share, almost four-time higher than all the others competitors.
