Cutting production capacity will be last resort, says Perodua

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KUALA LUMPUR: Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) may cut production capacity as a last resort if sales continue to decline owing to stricter conditions on hire purchase loans for cars.

Its managing director, Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh, said Perodua was also looking at other measures to address the issue.

He, however, declined to elaborate.

“If things doesn’t work for the better, obviously we have to look at counter measures, cutting production will be the last,” he told reporters after the “Perodua Eco-Challenge Handover of Modification and Development Fund to Institutions of Higher Learning” ceremony here yesterday.

The second national carmaker said if the problem continued, it might not only hurt the sales but also other stakeholders such as distributors and vendors.

Effective Jan 1, Bank Negara Malaysia has implemented the Guidelines on Responsible Financing to promote prudent, responsible and transparent retail financing practices as well as ensure that the household sector and credit market remained resilient.

Aminar said Perodua always supported the government’s objective in curbing household debts and hoped that it would also consider early consultation with industry players.

“We are appealing that in the case of entry-level vehicles, perhaps a slightly different approach should be taken.

“Early consultation with the industry players are important.

“We are appealing to the authorities that when they want to introduce any new measures, please get us involved early so that we can give our opinion,” he said.

On the Perodua Eco-Challenge 2012, Aminar said, all the 13 institutions of higher learning that took part in the 2011 event would be competing again.

In a statement, Perodua said the participating teams needed to improve on their last year’s race vehicle based on the buggy concept using a ViVA 660cc engine given last year, with Perodua giving seed funding of RM10,000 to each team.

“To add further excitement, Perodua is also extending the invitation to the business, commerce or management faculties of the participating institutions to compete by submitting their marketing, promotional and business plan for their team’s race vehicle,” it said.

Perodua said it would provide each team RM5,000 for the marketing and promotional activities and a panel of judges from the industry will select the winner.

The competition will be held at the Melaka International Motorsport Circuit, Ayer Keroh, Melaka on July 15. — Bernama