Perodua cautiously optimistic of better 4Q sales

PETALING JAYA: Perodua, which recorded sales of 151,600 units for the first nine months ending Sept 30, 2017, up 0.5% from 150,600 in the same period in 2016, is cautiously optimistic of better sales in the fourth quarter of 2017 due to new initiatives planned in the last quarter of the year. For the third quarter of 2017, Perodua sales slowed slightly by 3% to 51,900 against 53,500 in the third quarter of 2016.
“The larger sales number in the third quarter last year was due to the newly introduced Perodua Bezza. That impact has normalised now and our sales have benefitted from the model’s introduction,” Perodua president and CEO Datuk Dr Aminar Rashid Salleh said.
He said challenges for the fourth quarter of 2017 include challenging approvals for hire-purchase loans and expected intense competition from other auto brands.
“The fourth quarter is expected to be challenging but we believe that we can sustain our sales momentum and are cautiously optimistic in meeting our earlier set target of 202,000 vehicles by the end of 2017,” he said.
Aminar said that on a year-to-date basis, all of Perodua’s models were best-sellers in their respective categories.
From January to September this year the Axia was the country’s best selling A-segment compact hatch with 48,700 units sold, followed by the Perodua Myvi, which was the country’s best-selling B-segment hatch with 42,000 units, the Perodua Bezza, the best-selling compact A-segment sedan at 39,800 units and the Perodua Alza, the best-selling MPV at 21,400 units.
With regard to Perodua’s after-sales performance, Aminar said service intakes (number of vehicles patronising Perodua service centres) increased by 4.6% to 1.58 million for the first nine months ending Sept 30, 2017 against 1.51 million intakes in the same period last year.
On production, Perodua manufactured 147,900 vehicles for the first nine months of the year, a reduction of 3.8% compared with 153,700 units produced in the same period last year.
Aminar said the reduction was planned as some of the vehicle stock was produced in the fourth quarter of 2016 in response to expected higher exchange rates in the first quarter of 2017.