since 1976
since 1976
CHAVING tasted a high of selling 240,341 vehicles in 2019, Perodua wants to regain this height of achievement once more. The current pandemic put paid to its plans in 2020 to excel beyond that level but that has not stopped its hunger, albeit a year later than expected.
The humbling experience in 2020 has led to a cautious note on Perodua’s annual target for this year, being a 240,000-vehicle sales ambition. Nevertheless, this is a nine per cent increase from the volume achieved last year, which was 220,163.
The sales tax exemption provided by the Government in the second half of 2020 set the impetus for general car sales to increase tremendously from the lean spell in the earlier half (when overall market sales plunged more than 50 per cent). Passenger vehicles at a cheaper price caught the imagination of the car buying public and the sales numbers roared back to very healthy levels from July 2020 to offset the earlier shortfall.
For the entire 2020, Perodua’s 220,163 sales volume comprised 66,330 Myvis, 59,651 Axias, 56,996 Bezzas, 22,494 Aruz, 14,691 Alzas and one other model against a total industry volume (TIV) of 529,434 units. This gave it a commanding 41.6% market share.
With the sales tax exemption being extended to June 30 this year, the optimism of moving a greater number of vehicles in 2021 is understandably high. Going forward, Perodua President and Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad sees 2021 as a year of recovery given the extension of the sales tax exemption, Covid-19 vaccine programmes and sustained strong demand for the company’s models.
With this rosy outlook, he said Perodua was expected to purchase a record RM6.5 billion worth of locally-sourced components in 2021. In addition, he enthused, ‘we are looking to increase our stock by boosting our production target to 272,000 vehicles this year – the highest in our history. This increase would replenish our stock to ensure brisk delivery this year’.
Perodua’s 2021 production target is said to represents a 23-per cent increase over the 220,968 units manufactured in 2020 and with all its models having more than 90 per cent local parts content, the carmaker takes pride in remaining the biggest buyer of automotive components in Malaysia.
On the car service scenario, Dato’ Zainal said Perodua was expecting its service intake to grow 20 per cent from 2 million units in 2020 to 2.4 million units this year, comprising current and new customers. “We thank all Malaysians for making us the nation’s best-selling carmaker for 15 successive years.”
To build further on this robust customer support, he said Perodua would transform its approach in every aspect, be it customer engagement, value or even operations, while singling out the company’s sales arm, Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd. Called ‘Perodua Smart Build’, he firmly believed this approach would revolutionise Perodua’s offerings while further improving the compact car company’s operational capabilities.
“More information and impact of the Perodua Smart Build initiative on Perodua, our partners, the automotive ecosystem and our valued customers would be announced in the near future,” Dato’ Zainal said. - LPS
