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19th July, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR: Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) aims to sell 95,100 units in the second half of this year, which will bring its total to 188,023 units and maintaining its original target for the year.
Its managing director, Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh, said the second half of this year would be equally challenging with the implementation of new guidelines on responsible lending, coupled with several new launches in the market.
“I think by now, we are more or less adjusted to changes to the guidelines although not to the level that we will like to see in terms of process time but we are seeing improvement,” he said at the review of the company’s first-half performance here yesterday.
For the first six months of this year, Perodua sold some 93,000 units, up 17 per cent from nearly 80,000 units in the same period in 2011, he said.
“This represents 31 per cent of the estimated 303,000 total industry volume for the first half.
“However, the numbers from 2011 are not a true comparison as the automotive industry was impacted by the lack of parts from Japan due to the disasters that hit last March,” Aminar Rashid said.
When compared with the first half of 2010, he said, sales fell by two per cent mainly due to the new guidelines introduced by Bank Negara Malaysia in January.
However, he said, the booking numbers to date were quite high especially with the coming festive seasons, coupled with rising demand for multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) which could boost sales of its MPV, Alza.
Aminar Rashid said all Perodua cars produced from July 1 would have dual SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) airbags and seatbelt pre-tension without extra cost to comply with the new safety regulation, R94, which touched on minimal frontal impact during collision.
“Although the cost is significant, it is manageable as we are able to absorb the cost of installing the dual airbags, supported by our aggressive cost reduction exercises throughout our operation,” he said.
At the same event, Aminar Rashid also launched the New Alza Advanced Version, which will replace the current Alza Advanced Version as part of Perodua’s strategy to further increase its holding on MPV market.
The latest version, which will likely be selling about 350-400 units a month, comes with a built-in touch screen multimedia system with navigation as well as TM WiFi hotspot locator.
The model, with automatic transmission, comes in three colours—mystical purple, ebony black and ivory white.
The prices on the road are the same as its predecessors which are RM69,503.50 (solid) and RM70,003.50 (metallic).
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