2017 Perodua Eco Challenge To Focus On Commercial Value

The Perodua Eco Challenge 2017 (PEC 2017), one of Perodua’s main Corporate Responsibility programs, invites institutions of higher learning to propose the best innovative components which might be incorporated into the company’s future models.

“The PEC 2017 is very unique and comes with a new format as we need them to create a part of a car that includes the element of ECO (Environment, Creativity and Originality) which will be considered to be included in our new models,” Perodua President & Chief Executive Officer, Datuk (Dr) Aminar Rashid Salleh said.

Started in 2009, the Perodua Eco Challenge offers students and faculty members from local institutions of higher learning an avenue to show their creativity in terms of design, engineering and business prowess against their peers from different institutions.

Between 2009 and 2013 the Perodua Eco Challenge was focused on the redesigning of existing Perodua models then to building up a new car and marketing it, with fuel efficiency as the main objective for the participating institutions of higher learning.

Typically, the theme of the PEC during this time was more distance-race oriented. For 2017, there is more of a parts development theme incorporated into the challenge as the institutions of higher learning will focus more on research and development and will work closely with Perodua’s R&D team as well as vendors to produce prototype components.

A total of 21 institutions of higher learning were invited to participate in the Perodua Eco Challenge in November 2016 of which 10 were chosen today to compete for PEC 2017.

Perodua is giving a small seed grant to develop the ideas for the institutions and by April 2017, these 10 institutions will work with Perodua R&D as well as vendors to produce the prototype for a final assessment. “These ideas must incorporate the ‘unique Malaysia’ element in their designs as to make them truly stand out from other model offerings,” Datuk (Dr) Aminar said.

The role of the Perodua R&D and vendors would be to advise and educate the institutions of higher learning on the importance of proper work culture, procedures and processes. “We believe that this will be a great help to both the institutions and students as they could incorporate these processes in their education and work-life environment,” Datuk (Dr) Aminar said.

Once the prototype is completed, the component will be reviewed by a team of judges next December. Scoring is given on a stage basis, where the institutions will be evaluated based on their progress and team participation.

“The PEC’s core idea is to empower youths through education and we believe adding “real-world” elements such as competition and actual processes in developing a global business mind-set are essential for a vibrant as well as innovative nation,” Datuk (Dr) Aminar said.