Perodua closes in on 2022 sales target

10-month registration jumps 51.2% from last year

“Moving forward, we expect the registration momentum to continue upwards until the end of the year.” Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad

PETALINGJAYA: National compact carmaker Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) has surpassed the 200,000 sales mark for 2022, having registered a total of 222,203 vehicles between January and October this year.

In a statement yesterday, Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad said year-to-date registration for Perodua cars jumped 51.2% from 146,951 units sold in the same period in 2021.

“There was a gap in sales between June and August last year due to the lockdown imposed by the government to contain Covid-19 cases.

“Moving forward, we expect the registration momentum to continue upwards until the end of the year.”

For the month of October 2022, Perodua sold 25,849 units, which is a 5% improvement against 24,626 units sold in September 2022.

The top three Perodua models sold in October were Bezza with 6,768 units, followed by the Myvi with 6,130 units and the Axia with 4,989 units.

In terms of production, Zainal Abidin said Perodua manufactured 22,974 units in October, bringing the total number of vehicles produced to 229,811 units between January and October this year.

“Looking ahead, we plan to further increase our production and sales volume as we try to go beyond our earlier set sales target for 2022 and by doing so, will reduce the waiting period for our customers,” he said.

Zainal Abidin added that the higher-than-expected production and sales performance had impacted the local automotive ecosystem positively, given that on average 95% of Perodua parts are sourced locally.

“In fact, the high localisation rate has also helped shield Perodua from the volatility in the foreign-exchange market at the moment.

“It is our intention to further improve the local automotive supply chain, as having such an industry has proven a benefit to both Perodua and consumers.”

In January this year, Perodua announced a 247,800-unit registration target for 2022.

According to the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA), total vehicle sales rose 53% year-on-year to 67,659 units in September, as car companies continued to fulfil bookings received prior to the expiry of the vehicle sales tax exemption on June 30, 2022.

A total of 60,060 passenger cars and 7,599 commercial vehicles were sold during the month.

According to a recent report by Kenanga Research, vehicle order backlogs are reaching some 400,000 units, comprising mostly vehicles of newer models that are currently out of stock.

“Not all of these, particularly new models with a waiting period of beyond 12 months (such as the Perodua Alza), will be delivered and registered before end-march 2023 to enjoy the sales and service tax exemption, despite the bookings being made prior to endJune 2022,” the research house said.

According to the MAA, year-to-date September vehicle sales rose more than 60% to 516,798 units from 318,827 units in the previous corresponding period.

For the month of October, MAA said sales are expected to be maintained at September’s level. At its biannual meeting in July, the MAA forecast new vehicle sales to grow 5% to 630,000 units for 2022.