The increase in vehicle sales is attributed to improved customer confidence following the government's decision to halve registration fees and carmakers' efforts to stimulate demand.

According to VAMA, its member companies achieved total sales of 25,196 units, down 13 per cent from the previous month but up 12 per cent from a year ago.

Sales of passenger cars reached 19,129 units, a 16 per cent decline from the previous month. Meanwhile, sales of commercial vehicles grew by 1 per cent to 5,901 units. Special-purpose vehicle sales were contracted by 23 per cent to 166 units.

There were 12,064 completely knocked-down (CKD) vehicles being delivered to customers in August, down 13 per cent from a month ago. Meanwhile, completely built-up vehicles (CBU) saw a drop of 13 per cent to 13,132 units for the same period.

In the first eight months of 2024, a total of 188,997 vehicles were sold out in the period, a slight increase of two per cent on-year.

Among them, passenger car sales were up 2 per cent; commercial vehicles were up 4 per cent and special-purpose vehicles were up 1 per cent on-year. Meanwhile, CKD vehicles were down 11 per cent, and CBU vehicles up 21 per cent from a year ago.

A temporary 50-per cent reduction in registration fees for domestically produced and assembled cars will be applied from September 1 through November 30 this year. The policy is expected to revive customer demand and facilitate the domestic vehicle industry in the last few months of 2024.