BAUTO PLANS TO DRIVE CAR SALES THIS YEAR
Company says the CX30 addition is expected to breach its 16,000-unit target
BERMAZ Auto Bhd (BAuto) plans to add another vehicle to its line-up of new launches for this year, boosting its targeted sales to more than 16,000 units.
BAuto chief executive officer Datuk Francis Lee Kok Chuan told the New Straits Times that the CX30, which made its debut in Geneva recently, was expected to arrive here by year-end.
The CX30 will join the all-new Mazda 3 and CX8 large sports utility vehicle as BAuto’s new launches this year.
The CX30 sits between CX5 and CX3 and will be a completely built unit model from Japan.
“We like to under-promise than to under-deliver. We are a very
conservative company,” said Lee in an interview recently.
He had earlier estimated a flat sales growth of 16,000 unit for the year ending April 2020 (FY20).
Lee said if the firm can ramp up its new existing models (for example CX5) production on strong demand, the sales could go higher than the expected 16,000 units.
He said the all-new seventh generation Mazda 3 was expected to be launched in May or June this year while CX8 possibly in September.
Both, which will be locally assembled or completely knocked down units, will also be lined up for the export markets.
For FY21, Lee said BAuto had set a higher sales target of 20,000 units with brand new models and facelifts.
Kenanga Research said BAuto had launched the facelifted Mazda CX-3 and facelifted Mazda 6 in FY18.
It would unveil the all-new Mazda 3 SkyActivX in the second quarter of this year as well as the all-new CX8 and all-new CX-30 in the second half.
Kenanga Research has upgraded BAuto’s FY19 core net profit (CNP) by six per cent to reflect the stronger-than-expected margin.
Nevertheless, it maintained its FY20 CNP as it had made sufficient adjustment in relation to Sales and Service Tax rate.
Meanwhile, Lee said BAuto expects to export about 10 per cent more this year than the 11,300 units in FY18, as it aims to maintain its position as Malaysia’s largest car exporter.
“We are selling cars that can give us the volume and high profit margin.
“This is good for the CKD programmes and it benefits the vendors. When there is high volume, there’s economies of scale,” he said.
Lee expects the National Automotive Policy, to be unveiled in the second quarter of this year, to provide more customised incentives for the local car exporters.
“With the new policy, hopefully the government can help us to export more,” he said.
Lee said BAuto was looking to add one or two more 3S centres this year with an expenditure of RM1 million each.