PETALING JAYA: Motor vehicle sales rose for a fifth straight month in October, and may surpass the industry-revised forecast for the year. Demand for new cars is expected to remain robust in the next two months.

“Sales volume in November is expected to be slightly better,'' Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) said in a statement yesterday.

New vehicle registrations in October climbed 20% to 42,915 from 35,653 units a year earlier. Sales during the month, however, slowed 4.5% compared with September.

MAA said a “shorter working month'' in October had affected sales, as offices closed for an extended period due to Hari Raya.

Year-to-date, the total industry sales volume had reached 401,149 units, and was likely to remain above 40,000 a month for the rest of the year, analysts said.

In July, the association lowered its forecast for 2007 to 460,000 units, citing low second-hand car values and stringent hire-purchase financing as among key factors for the slowing demand.

But strong response to new models launched by national carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd as well as foreign brands like Toyota and Nissan helped lift sales in the second half.

The pay rise for civil servants was also a major boost for new car sales in the past few months.

The MAA statistics show that passenger cars accounted for about 90% of the total industry volume this year.

On the production side, 34,629 units were rolled out in October, up 16% from a year earlier.

In the first 10 months this year, 361,969 units that included 330,001 passenger cars were produced in the country.