KUALA LUMPUR: Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) produced 153,813 vehicles in the first six months of 2023, up 17 per cent compared with 131,641 units in the same period of 2022.
This resulted in a sales registration increase of 13.6 per cent to 144,690 vehicles for the first half of 2023 (1H23) from 127,343 units sold in the same period last year.
The Bezza is Perodua's top seller so far this year with a total of 40,555 units registered between January and June, followed by the Myvi at 32,319 units and the Axia at 28,199 units.
"The higher production and sales performances for the first half of 2023 were due to better supply of parts as well as improved production efficiency at our manufacturing plant," Perodua president and chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad said today.
He said Perodua is on track to meet its 330,000 production and 314,000 registration targets as the compact car company will further improve on its operational efficiencies.
"The notable improvements we have made include the faster tact time (the time it takes to produce a vehicle) from 1.35 minutes to 1.25 minutes at our Perodua Global Manufacturing plant," Zainal added.
On a quarter-to-quarter comparison, Perodua produced 69,013 vehicles in 2Q23, up one per cent from 68,316 in the same period last year.
Zainal said the bulk of the production performance of this year so far was achieved in the first quarter of 2023.
For the second quarter, Perodua registered 66,126 units compared with 65,719 units in the same period last year.
"Looking ahead, we expect both production and sales to continue their uptrend as demand for our vehicles remain healthy," Zainal said.
"For example, our recently-launched Axia E was well received and our ready stock of 2,500 vehicles were completely distributed within 48 hours.
"While existing bookings were encouraging, there are potential challenges ahead, ranging from potential higher financing costs and intermittent supply shortages.
Zainal thanked Bank Negara Malaysia for keeping the overnight policy rate steady at 3.0 as this would help to ease financing cost of its customers from the lower income earners.