The reconditioned or pre-owned car market continued its recovery, recording 1,800 registrations during the month of August, against 510 registrations last year and 1,492 registrations in July 2013, an equities research firm analysis showed.

According to JB Securities, Toyota was the most popular brand in the pre-owned segment with 1,313 registrations during the month, against just 361 last year followed by Honda with 423 registrations, against a previous 86 registrations.

In total, 2,530 cars were registered during August, including 730 brand new cars.

Among mass market brands, Maruti was the leader in brand new registrations at 235 units, against 275 in the preceding month and 126 units in August 2012.

A further 177 Micro cars were registered during the month, as compared with 186 in the previous year while once popular Perodua cars recorded 82 registrations, down from 125 units in July 2013 and 203 units in August 2012.

Meanwhile, luxury brands continued to hold traction in the local market despite slow-downs in the heavily taxed mass market segment, with 139 premium cars and a further 634 SUVs registered during the month.

Top performer, BMW posted 59 registrations during the month, down from 68 registrations in July this year and 45 units last year.

The Audi brand’s resurgence carried over to the August as well with 53 registrations against 56 in July and 44 registrations in 2012.

Notably, the momentum gathered by high-end luxury brand, Jaguar in July carried over to August with 9 registrations during the month.

July 2013 marked an all-time high in registrations of Jaguars with 16 units recorded during the month. In the SUV segment, Toyota maintained its dominant market position with 164 registrations against just 32 registrations last year, comprising largely of Toyota Prados. Mitsubishi posted 148 registrations, down from 177 in July but improving over last year’s 101 registrations. Meanwhile, newly resurgent Land Rover recorded 67 registrations, against 91 in July 2013 and 16 units in August 2012.

Across all segments, 26,901 vehicles were registered during August, as compared with 27,306 units in 2012. (CF)