Not a typo. Following its launch (<– link) last month, Perodua is off to a good start in 2019 with over 20,100 vehicles sold in the first month of the year, of which the compact car company registered 1,025 units of its recently launched SUV the Aruz on the last day of January.

“Despite the delay in the registration of Aruz, we managed to maximise the delivery of Aruz up to the wee hours, in anticipation of the long CNY break,” Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd Managing Director, Dato’ Dr. Zahari Husin said.

In case you missed it, here’s our walkaround video at the launch of the Aruz on 15th Jan 2019…

“Pending official figure from MAA, we estimated our market share for January 2019 to be around 41.7% market share for Perodua and 9.2% growth from 18,400 Perodua vehicles sold in December 2018,” he said. Compared to the same period last year, Perodua sold 20,100 units or 13.6% more in January this year against 17,700 units done in January 2018.

“While Aruz has been received well with 8,000 booking so far, our other models has been doing equally well with more than 19,000 units registered in January,” Dato’ Dr. Zahari said. “The strong demand on Aruz has resulted some waiting period especially for the AV variant. We are doing our best to reduce this waiting period to a more acceptable level,” Dato’ Dr. Zahari said.

He added that currently, the order composition is of the Aruz 85% for the Advanced Version (priced at RM77,900 without insurance) and the remaining 15% is for the X variant (priced at RM72,900 without insurance). “On the speculation that Perodua Aruz’s price will increase, I wish to clarify that we are maintaining the price for the Aruz which is RM72,900 for the X variant and RM77,900 for the Advanced Version,” Dato’ Dr. Zahari said.

On the demand for its other models, Dato’ Dr. Zahari said sales are encouraging with the new Perodua Myvi still leading in terms of sales with over 8,400 units sold in January. Its other models are also leading in their respective segments with the Axia, Bezza and Alza selling more than 5,500 units, 3,400 units and 1,600 units respectively in January.

“Please come by to the most convenient Perodua sales showroom and speak to our authorised sales advisor on our offerings. I am sure that we have the right vehicle for your motoring needs,” Dato’ Dr. Zahari said. “To all those celebrating this Lunar New Year, we at Perodua, wish you health, prosperity and happiness. Please be safe on the road,” he added.

As for 2018, Perodua had an excellent year as expected, with 227,243 vehicles sold. FULL details after the Aruz launch Photo Gallery…

2019 Perodua Aruz Launch Photo Gallery…

Perodua 2018 Sales Results…

Perodua recorded its best-ever sales performance of 227,243 units in 2018, and aims to better that figure by 1.7% to 231,000 units by end-2019, underpinned by the Myvi and the recent introduction of the Aruz. The Myvi was Perodua’s best-selling model in 2018, with 82,122 registered out of 117,844 booked in that year alone. From its November 2017 launch to date, the Myvi’s numbers have exceeded 91,500 registrations and 147,000 bookings.

The Axia, Bezza and Alza are still at the top of their respective segments with 70,821, 49,911 and 24,389 units sold respectively in 2018. “Perodua’s aim to boost its sales by 1.7% this year will not only strengthen the brand but offer some relief to the Malaysian car industry, which is forecast to grow very minimally this year,” Perodua President and Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad told the press today at the company’s Chinese New Year Luncheon.

The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) expects an incremental 0.21% total industry volume (TIV) growth to 600,000 units this year from 598,714 units last year. The association explained that last year’s growth was artificial due to the one-off June-August tax holiday, and barring any fresh incentives, the market should remain at this level in 2019.

“For Perodua, the Myvi is expected to remain popular this year, and since we started order-taking for the Aruz on 3 January, we have collected nearly 5,700 bookings to date. Given that our sales target is 2,500 units monthly, the figure is very encouraging indeed,” said Dato’ Zainal.

Perodua also expects to increase its component purchases by 20% from RM5 billion last year to RM6 billion this year. This is in line with the demand expected in 2019 and will directly benefit local automotive suppliers.

According to Dato’ Zainal, over 219,000 vehicles rolled out of the Perodua Manufacturing Sdn Bhd and Perodua Global Manufacturing Sdn Bhd plants combined in 2018, and the national carmaker expects to better that figure by 10.5% to 242,000 vehicles in 2019.

In after-sales, Perodua broke many of its own records in terms of service intakes (2018 2.17 million intakes versus 2017 2.1 million intakes – 3% up) and sales of parts and accessories (2018 RM320.8 million versus 2017 RM288.5 million – 11% up). Its Body & Paint and Pre-Owned Vehicle businesses also saw encouraging growth.

“After-sales is just as important as sales to us as it sustains us in this ever-competitive market. We want to improve in this area further as it is with customer care that we will be able to further strengthen our brand in this country. We thank all Malaysians for their strong support over the years and we look forward to serving you for many more years to come,” Dato’ Zainal said.