Perodua Maintains Its 2017 Sales Target Projection of 202k Vehicles

Despite a slight year-on-year increase of 0.5% for its 9-month results, Perodua is confident of maintaining its 2017 sales target projection of 202,000 vehicles. For the first 9 months ending 30 September 2017, the company sold 151,600 vehicles, up from 150,600 the year before. And although it saw year-on-year sales slow slightly in the 3rd quarter (from 53,500 to 51,900 vehicles), the company remains cautiously optimistic of achieving its targets.

The increase in 3Q2016 sales was due to the demand for the Perodua Bezza, which was launched in late July 2016, and its expectations to meet its target this year is due to its new initiatives planned for the remaining quarter of the year.

“The larger sales number in the third quarter last year was due to the then newly introduced Perodua Bezza. That impact has normalized now and our sales have benefited from the model’s introduction,” Perodua President and Chief Executive Officer, Datuk (Dr) Aminar Rashid Salleh said.

Datuk (Dr) Aminar said challenges for the fourth quarter of 2017 include challenging approvals for hire-purchase loans and expected intense competition from other auto brands.

“The fourth quarter is expected to be challenging but we believe that we can sustain our sales momentum and are cautiously optimistic in meeting our earlier set target of 202,000 vehicles by the end of 2017,” he said. Datuk (Dr) Aminar said that on a year-to-date basis, all Perodua models were best-sellers in their respective categories.

The Axia remains the country’s best-selling A-segment compact hatch with 48,700 units sold in the first 9 months of 2017. This is followed by the Perodua Myvi which is the national B-segment hatch leader with 42,000 units. The Perodua Bezza, the best-selling compact A-segment sedan, saw 39,800 units delivered and the Perodua Alza, the best-selling MPV, 21,400 units.

“We wish to thank all Malaysians for their trust in our brand and we will continue to improve ourselves; both in our products and our services to serve you better,” Datuk (Dr) Aminar said.

On the company’s after-sales performance, Datuk (Dr) Aminar said the service intake (the number of vehicles patronising Perodua service centers) has increased by 4.6% to 1.58 million in the first 9 months of 2017, compared to 1.51 million for the same period last year.

As for its manufacturing side, Perodua produced 147,900 vehicles in the first 9 months of 2017, down 3.8% compared with 153,700 units last year. This was a planned reduction as some of the vehicle stock was produced in the fourth quarter of 2016 in response to the expected higher exchange rate in the first quarter of 2017.