Perodua announces its debut in Seychelles

KUALA LUMPUR: While Proton is expanding its market reach with the Chinese automaker Geely by its side, Perodua is doing the same by expanding its export profile. The Malaysia automaker made its Seychelles debut with the Axia hatch. The hatch was introduced by SF Hybrid Motors, Perodua’s official distributor in Seychelles. The event took place in Victoria that is the capital of this archipelago of 115 islands, located off East Africa.

In Seychelles, the Axia is introduced in four trim options - the base E MT for SRe 235,000 (approx RM 71,500), Standard G AT, Standard G AT for SRe 265,000 (RM 80,600), SE for SRe 275,000 (RM 83,700), and lastly AV for SRe 290,00 (RM 88,300). Included in this price is 3-year/100,000 km warranty.

The Perodua Axia last received a facelift in 2017, and the same model has been introduced in Seychelles. The car is powered by a 1KR-VE 1.0-litre 3-cylinder mill that churns out a maximum power of 67 hp at 6,000 rpm along with a peak torque of 91 Nm at 4,400 rpm. In the base model, i.e., E MT the engine is paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox, the remaining three models get a 4-speed automatic unit.

After Mauritius (since 1996), Seychelles is the second African market where the Malaysian automaker is exporting its products. At the launch event, Perodua Sales MD, Zahari Husin said that the carmaker is pretty excited about the potential of Seychelles and noted that its popularity as a tourist spot would further open more export opportunities via brand exposure.

He further said, “Seychelles offers a good opportunity for us to expose our brand to people of various nationalities who travel to the island nation for their holidays. We believe that this will give us greater prospects for future markets,”.

Acknowledging Perodua’s not so significant export performance at the moment, Zahari said that the company was focusing on expansion. He said, “We are working with our partner Daihatsu by leveraging on their experience and extensive network to map a sustainable and profitable export plan.”