Perodua charts sales record, targets 231,000 units in 2019

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Zainal (fifth left) together with directors from Perodua and some members of the media tossing yee sang at Perodua’s 2019 Chinese New Year Luncheon yesterday.

KUCHING: Perodua, which recorded its best-ever sales performance of 227,243 units in 2018, aims to better that figure by four per cent to 231,000 units by end-2019, underpinned by the Myvi and the recent introduction of the Aruz.

The Myvi was Perodua’s best-selling model in 2018, with 82,122 registered out of 117,844 booked in that year alone. From its November 2017 launch to date, the Myvi’s numbers have exceeded 91,500 registrations and 147,000 bookings.

The Axia, Bezza and Alza are still at the top of their respective segments with 70,821, 49,911 and 24,389 units sold respectively in 2018.

“Perodua’s aim to boost its sales by four per cent this year will not only strengthen the brand but offer some relief to the Malaysian car industry, which is forecast to grow very minimally this year,” Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad told the press yesterday at the company’s Chinese New Year Luncheon.

The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) expects an incremental 0.21 per cent total industry volume (TIV) growth to 600,000 units this year from 598,714 units last year.

The association explained that last year’s growth was artificial due to the one-off June-August tax holiday, and barring any fresh incentives, the market should remain at this level in 2019.

“For Perodua, the Myvi is expected to remain popular this year, and since we started order-taking for the Aruz on January 3, we have collected nearly 5,700 bookings to date. Given that our sales target is 2,500 units monthly, the figure is very encouraging indeed,” said Zainal.

Perodua also expects to increase its component purchases by 20 per cent from RM5 billion last year to RM6 billion this year. This is in line with the demand expected in 2019 and will directly benefit local automotive suppliers.

According to Zainal, over 219,000 vehicles rolled out of the Perodua Manufacturing Sdn Bhd and Perodua Global Manufacturing Sdn Bhd plants combined in 2018, and the national carmaker expects to better that figure by 10.5 per cent to 242,000 vehicles in 2019.

In after-sales, Perodua broke many of its own records in terms of service intakes (2018 2.17 million intakes versus 2017 2.1 million intakes – 3 per cent up) and sales of parts and accessories (2018 RM320.8 million versus 2017 RM288.5 million – 11 per cent up). Its Body & Paint and Pre-Owned Vehicle businesses also saw encouraging growth.

“After-sales is just as important as sales to us as it sustains us in this ever-competitive market. We want to improve in this area further as it is with customer care that we will be able to further strengthen our brand in this country.

“We thank all Malaysians for their strong support over the years and we look forward to serving you for many more years to come,” Zainal said.