Sales of new cars in Malaysia will rebound: Industry group TEAMCAR - SALES of new cars should rebound, albeit slightly, in the second half of 2006 amid extremely weak used-car prices, rising interest rates, tighter loan procedures and more cautious consumer sentiment, industry officials said.

The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) expects a total sales volume of 271,590 units for the period July-December, better than the 248,407 units sold in the first six months of 2006.

Still, that will not be enough to prevent full-year sales from dropping, by about 6 per cent to 520,000 units from 551,042 sold in 2005, the MAA said.

This could be the first time that Malaysia's car industry will see figures dipping, after eight consecutive years of sales growth.

The MAA said that rising oil prices, higher inflation expected at 4 per cent, and the country's anticipated modest economic growth of 5.5 per cent would also be contributing factors to poor sales for this year.

The trade body is hoping that sales will stabilise by the year-end, and that some recovery can be seen next year.  ¶ 4:25 PM