PETALING JAYA: Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) hopes to sell 209,000 vehicles this year, two per cent more than 204,900 sold last year.
President and chief executive officer Datuk Dr. Aminar Rashid Salleh said the slight sales uptick will be mainly driven by continued interests for Perodua's current line-up.
“The momentum carried by the Bezza in the earlier part of 2017 and the continued demand for other models have helped us to be the top-selling carmaker in Malaysia for the 12th year in running,” he said at Perodua 2017 full year review, here, today.
Aminar said the company expects the total industry volume (TIV) to top 590,000 units in 2018, in reference to Perodua's internal calculations.
“Therefore, we foresee our market share sustaining at slightly above 35 per cent,” he added.
Aminar believes Perodua's sales to pick up this year on the back of favourable economic conditions and continued momentum in the new Myvi.
“We expect more registrations moving forward, as most of the customers who placed orders last year want their cars to be delivered in 2018,” Aminar said.
The new Perodua Myvi has garnered over 36,000 bookings since order-taking began in November 2017. To date, more than 11,000 units delivered to customers.
“That being said, we are also doing our level best to meet demand, especially for the 1.5 variant, which was beyond our expectations,” he said.
Aminar said Perodua Manufacturing Sdn Bhd is currently working overtime to ensure deliveries are made within an acceptable time frame.
“Perodua will focus on maximising the sales potential of all its models in 2018 to meet the 209,000-unit target,” he said.
Aminar said the increase in demand this year would have a positive impact on vehicle production with an estimated 215,334 units to be produced at both Perodua's manufacturing facilities compared with 200,146 units produced in 2017.
Perodua has two vehicle manufacturing companies - Perodua Manufacturing Sdn Bhd and Perodua Global Manufacturing Sdn Bhd - producing the new Myvi and the Alza; and manufacturing the Axia and Bezza, respectively.
Perodua's after-sales is expected to grow 1.9 per cent to 2.14 million this year from 2.1 million intakes in 2017.
“We are also aggressively growing our after-sales business to meet with the expected increase in the numbers of customers moving forward,” he said.
Aminar added Perodua will be upgrading its current facilities to have more bays and improve staff competencies.
“Hence, it will further reduce our customers' waiting time and increase our intakes,” he said.