Perodua Positive About 2016 With New Model Offering

National carmaker Perodua is positive, albeit cautiously, of its performance for 2016. Speaking to the media of the company’s 1H16 performance, Perodua President & CEO Datuk (Dr) Aminar Rashid Salleh said that the company is confident they will meet their sales target of 216,000 units this year especially with the recent launch of the Bezza sedan and despite the Malaysia Automotive Association (MAA) reducing the projected total industry volume (TIV) from 650,000 vehicles to 580,000 due to the soft consumer sentiment and global economic challenges.

In the first half of 2016, Perodua achieved sales of 97,400 vehicles with the Axia hatchback making up 52% of sales, followed by Myvi (29%) and Alza (19%); June was the best performing month with 20,000 car registered. Vehicle production however, saw a year-on-year decline of 14% to 100,300 units from 116,400 units owing to the soft demand and higher inventory.

Perodua’s current market share stands at approximately 35.5%, an improvement over last year’s 33.7% for the same period, despite market challenges. The market share improvement comes at the expense of other national and non-national marques. Total market share for national marques in 1H16 is approximately 49% (a y-o-y improvement from 47%).

Perodua needs to sell a further 118,600 vehicles in the second half to achieve its sales target. Going forward, key contributors to its sales numbers will be the Bezza sedan and Axia (which has been its best-seller for some time). Both are considered entry-level vehicles which Perodua expects to sell well as consumers tend to “buy down” in a soft market.

Since it started accepting bookings for the Bezza on 16 July (the car was officially launched on 21 July), the company has received an average of 1,000 bookings a day. As of this morning (26 July), total bookings (not sales) for the Bezza numbered 10,115.

According to Datuk Aminar, the company has shored up Bezza inventory to cater to the initial demand and shorten delivery time, as part of its effort to improve customer satisfaction. By 31 July, 9,000 Bezzas will be ready for nationwide delivery. Thus far, 500 Bezza sedans have been delivered to buyers.

Its new engine manufacturing plant in Sendayan which is producing the new 1.3-litre engine for the Bezza (but is also ready to produce the new 1.5-litre engine from the family) has an annual production capacity of 200,000 units based on 2 shifts. It is currently running on 1 shift and the company is looking at eventually making use of its capacity by either introducing new models and/or supplying engines to other marques.

On the after-sales side, Perodua managed to increase the throughput at its service centers by 5% to 1,000,000 vehicles year-on-year, from 965,000. This has led to an increase in intake revenue by 13% to RM 330 million as well as parts and accessories sales by 5% to RM 126 million for the same period. Perodua is continuing its efforts to keep more Perodua owners within the company’s ecosystem by continuously improving their after-sales services.

At the same time, Datuk Aminar took the opportunity to introduce Mr. Masanori Takahashi as the new President of Perodua Auto Corporation Sdn Bhd who took up the post on 20 June. Takahashi-san has extensive experience with overseas operations, having been based in the USA, South Africa and India when he was with Toyota Motor Corporation. He was Senior Executive Officer at Daihatsu Motor Corporation prior to joining Perodua.