Having manual Myvi will boost sales
PERODUA must be congratulated for launching the new Myvi passenger car on Nov 16 (“New Myvi launched” — NST, Nov 17).
With so many features built in and a price tag below RM45,000, Myvi will boost its position in the passenger car sector. A pre-sale booking of 5,000 units can be easily surpassed and delivered.
Just like all industry players, Perodua makes only cars fitted with automatic transmission.
It has delivered quality cars and, hence, has positioned the Myvi brand as a market leader in its category.
Riding on this strength, Perodua should consider producing a manual version.
It should take note that about a quarter of the 13.3 million private passenger cars are 10 years of age.
A significant number of that are manual transmission cars.
Many of these car owners may wish to change to new manual cars, which are between 10 per cent and 15 per cent cheaper than the automatic version.
Manual cars are less expensive to maintain and have lower fuel consumption.
Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom provide car buyers a choice of manual and automatic versions.
In Malaysia, virtually no carmaker markets manual transmission cars.
Automatic transmission cars offer advantages, but in a time of increasing costs, manual transmission cars can be a better choice.
The Transport Ministry said it is in the final stage of studying to put in place an “End of Life” policy to take aged vehicles off the road. This offers a chance for car manufacturers to increase their market share.