SHAH ALAM, Jan 6 — UMW Toyota Motor closed out 2022 on a bright note with a total of 101,035 vehicles sold, a 40 per cent jump compared to the 72,394 units in the previous year.

Its president Ravindran K said the sales consisted of 100,042 Toyota vehicles and 993 Lexus vehicles, placing Toyota as the top-selling non-national brand in Malaysia despite challenging market conditions as well as supply chain issues that affected the auto industry globally and locally.

He added UMW Toyota Motor also posted strong sales in the domestic C-Segment SUV category with 17,208 units of the Corolla Cross sold last year.

The Hilux dominated the pickup segment with 27,198 units sold, while the Hiace (390 units) and Fortuner (3,432 units) came up tops in the one-tonne van and light-duty wagon segments, respectively.

"I wish to express our appreciation to all our staff, dealers, and business partners who overcame a challenging year," he said in a statement today.

In addition, Ravindran said the Corolla Cross Hybrid model, which was one of the several models launched last year, set a new milestone by being the first-ever Toyota model with hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technology assembled in Malaysia at the state-of-the-art Toyota plant in Selangor.

He said the HEV technology is one of the approaches towards carbon neutrality, helping with a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

UMW Toyota Motor has also been evaluating battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), he revealed.

"We will continue to evaluate different options and introduce them as appropriate. For now, we believe HEVs are the most suitable for Malaysians and will add a second HEV model in 2023,” Ravindran said. — Bernama