KUALA LUMPUR: Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua), the number one national carmaker in the country, may increase the selling price of its car models if the ringgit continues to depreciate against the US dollar.
Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said the automotive firm is importing some automotive parts from overseas, of which these parts are charged by the greenback.
"A total of 90 per cent of Perodua components are built locally, however some of the other components are imported using the US dollars which is bleeding the company," said Aminar.
The ringgit is currently sliding against the US dollar hovering at 4.22 and 4.26 compared to the greenback.
"As the US dollar strengthens further, it has affected 5 per cent of Perodua's profit before tax and Perodua is trying its best to maintain its prices and hopefully things will get better," Aminar told the press at a press conference of its newly launched Perodua Sentral.
However, sources said, if the condition deteriorates, Perodua could jack up prices in two weeks.
The launching was officiated by International Trade and Industry (Miti) minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
Meanwhile, Mustapa said Miti and the Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) will continue to work with automotive industry players to look into the effects of the declining ringgit value and work out how to improve the situation.
"It's still too early to say what can be done as Miti is still engaging with the Special Economic Committee and we have compiled some details for the committee.
"Our duty is to engage with the automotive industry players and economic committee, make sure the figures and data provided is accurate...that is our priority now," said Mustapa.
He was commenting on the action taken by Naza Automotive Manufacturing which retrenched 255 workers last week by saying many of the workers had been absorbed by other automotive companies or other industries around Gurun.
"This retrenchment is not a big issue in Malaysia, unlike the 1997/1998 crisis, where nearly 100,000 people retrenched," Mustapa said.
He added that the Total Industry Volume (TIV) for 2015 is expected to be stable and able to achieve total sales of 670,000 this year despite a 3.2 per cent decline in the first seven months.