KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's total automotive sales volume this year is expected to grow 2 percent year-on-year to reach between 586,000 and 591,000 units, said the country's International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) Thursday.

The total car production volume, however, is expected to grow 4 percent year-on-year to between 530,000 and 535,000 units in 2018, MITI's minister Mustapa Mohamed said in a media briefing.

The total production volume and sales volume last year are projected to be between 510,000 to 515,000, and 575,000 to 580,000 respectively.

Mustapa said as Malaysia is facing intense competition, encouraging more strategic partnerships between local companies and foreign car makers will be the focus of the country's National Automotive Policy.

"Malaysia is a small player, it needs to find its niche to survive in the global car system," he said.

Citing the partnerships between Malaysia's national car maker Proton and China's Zhejiang Geely as an example, he believed the partnership would enhance Malaysia's car players' competitiveness.

With average car sales of 600,000 units, Malaysia's total industry volume is comparatively low as compared to other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, such as Thailand and Indonesia, which sold 1.9 million and 1.2 million units respectively.

Malaysia's vehicles exports as at November 2017 fell 43.52 percent year-on-year to 18,887 units. It also lagged behind the government's target of 31,000.

According to Mustapa, the significant drop in car exports last year was due to the restructuring exercises of some Malaysian car makers.

Last year, the global car sales rose 2 percent year-on-year to 84.6 million units. China was the largest car market that accounted for 30 percent of the total sales, followed by the European Union (23 percent) and the United States (22 percent).