KUALA LUMPUR: Perodua is revising its sales target for the year to 235,000 units, 4,000 more than its earlier target of 231,000 units.
The company sold 227,243 vehicles last year, which was the highest ever in its history.
For the first half of this year, Perodua sold some 121,800 vehicles domestically, which is a four per cent increase from the 117,100 units for the same period last year.
Out of the total sales figure this year, Myvi retains its position as the best-selling model with roughly 43,000 units sold, followed by Axia (32,000 units), Bezza (22,000 units), Aruz (15,000 units) and Alza (8,000 units).
Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad said total bookings for the first half of 2019 stood at 190,765 units, which is an increase of more than three per cent from the 184,949 orders collected during the same period last year.
“The increase in demand for our vehicles in the first six months of 2019 has had a positive impact on the automotive system as a whole, with parts purchases amounting to RM2.7 billion during this period,” he said, adding that the company had ramped up its production capacity to near maximum to reduce the waiting period for vehicles, which stands at two to three months.
Perodua is looking to stack up its ready stocks to 0.5 to 0.7 month in capacity. “This is going to be our main strategy for the second half of the year,” Zainal said.
Pending the Malaysian Automotive Association’s (MAA) official numbers, Perodua forecasts the 2019 total industry volume (TIV) to stay at 600,000 units.
Zainal said Perodua was working with the Daihatsu Motor Company of Japan to further develop its component suppliers to explore markets beyond Malaysia.
He said the company was planning to introduce ASA (Advance Safety Assist) to more models and to lower variants as well.
“The introduction of ASA to Daihatsu models in Japan has translated to 53 per cent of reduction in accident occurrence,” he said.
“We are still monitoring the figures for our market, but we hope it can reduce accidents, especially to motorcyclists.
“We would also be very happy if the effectiveness could mean motorcyclists converting to cars with better safety features,” he ended.