Malawi 2017. Toyota dominates a stagnating market

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Malawi Auto
Toyota-Land_Cruiser-2018

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 2012Sales 2013Sales 2014Sales 2015Sales 2016Sales 2017Sales 2018 e
Car+LCV9431.8261.5361.6001.6301.6051.674
HCV-5151156157188190
Total9431.8771.5871.7561.7871.7931.864
2012 Var2013 Var2014 Var2015 Var2016 Var2017 Var2018 var e
Car+LCV3,6%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%
Total1,1%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.