PERODUA registered 6,988 vehicles in August, compared with only 655 units in July as Perodua’s manufacturing and sales arms gradually resume their operations after the nationwide lockdown was lifted on Aug 16.
“We would see the production and registration numbers multiply in September as the situation normalise,” Perodua president and CEO Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad said.
All of Perodua’s operations were halted in accordance with the national lockdown introduced on June 1 to control the spread of Covid-19.
On a year-to-date basis, Perodua registered 104,933 vehicles or a 12.5% drop compared with 119,977 vehicles sold between January and August last year.
“We are working on closing this gap by further increasing our manufacturing output as well as further improving our standard operating procedures to ensure the safety of our people and our customers,” Zainal said.
“Based on the time and resources available, we are reducing our sales target by 10.8% to 214,000 units for this year from our earlier target of 240,000 units.
“Our main concern now is to ensure that the automotive industry will be able to sustain itself this year as Covid-19 and the semiconductor supply shortage continue to haunt the manufacturers both domestically and globally.”
On the semiconductor chip shortage, Zainal said that Perodua was able to secure enough to ensure production would resume smoothly this year and that most of Perodua’s outstanding order would be met within the year.
“For now, the semiconductor chip supply is still a global issue and we are working with our partners and suppliers to limit any disruption it may cause.”
