Perodua: Rate hike unlikely to affect sales

Thursday July 8, 2010
Perodua: Rate hike unlikely to affect sales


KUALA LUMPUR: Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) does not expect the recent rise in interest rates to affect its sales significantly.

Its managing director Aminar Rashid Salleh said interest rate rise in April and June had little impact on the car maker’s sales for the first half of the year.

“We are still recording good sales as consumer sentiments are strongly inclined towards affordable cars with good fuel economy which we are well known for,” he said at a media briefing on the company’s first-half performance here yesterday.

Aminar said Perodua sold 95,000 vehicles in the first six months of the year, representing an estimated 31.7% of the domestic market share. This is an increase from 77,000 units or 30.7% share in the same period of last year.

“The 23% increase in vehicle sales were due to the improving economy, contributions from the Alza MPV, and also the continued high demand for Myvi and Viva models.

“Barring unforeseen circumstances and higher demand for the festive season in the third quarter, we are confident of reaching our 176,000 units sales target for 2010,” he said.

Perodua sales in June rose to 16,300 units from 13,200 units in the same month of last year.

He also said Perodua’s aftersales had increased its vehicle intake in the first six months of the year to 823,000 units from 771,500 units in the first half of 2009 with higher productivity and the addition of eight new service dealers.

Perodua now has 163 service outlets consisting 45 branches and 118 service dealers.

At the briefing, Aminar also launched Perodua’s latest Myvi variant - the Myvi Limited Edition (LE) – which has been restyled for women.

“As more than 50% of Perodua car buyers are women, we feel a variant that is more fashionable and appealing to them should be introduced,” Aminar said.

Based on the standard Myvi 1.3-litre variant with a four-speed automatic transmission, the Myvi LE gets additional features including new interior trim colours, decorative cubic printing on centre cluster and door trims, chrome interior door release latches, vanity mirror on driver sunshade and side door mouldings.

Priced on-the-road at RM48,600 or RM1,700 over the standard Myvi variant, the Myvi LE also gets dual front airbags, USB and Bluetooth connectivity as standard equipment.