Perodua Aruz is the best-selling crossover in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: On July 17, Perodua announced its plan to increase its sales target from 231,000 (in January) to 235,000, i.e., a hike of 4,000 units. This increase in the target is attributed to the strong demand for all Perodua models.

For the year 2019, the total production target is now revised to 249,000 units, i.e., a good 2.9 percent hike over the previous 242,000 units target.

Both the Perodua manufacturing facilities are operating at 97 percent capacity, which the company attributes to its stabilised optimum level of operating condition. Speaking of which, the optimum level of operating increased from last year’s PMSB figure of 96.2 percent and PGMSB’s 94.6 percent. Also, the DPU (defects per unit) in both the Perodua plants have seen a steady fall.

Talking about the company’s latest offering the Aruz, its waiting period that was initially between 2 to 2.5 months has been reduced to 1 to 1.5 month, all thanks to the increased production.

Compared to last year's January to July sales figure of 140,900 units, this year as well the company sold the exact number of units. As for the Aruz crossover, it sold 17,989 units between January to July.

Perodua President and Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad said, “In terms of comparison, the months of June, July, and August last year saw a “tax holiday” resulting from the elimination of the Goods and Services Tax or GST by the government. Notwithstanding the circumstance, we are fortunate that our performance so far is comparable to the “tax holiday” impact. “We continue to focus on quality and delivery as our customers come first. We thank you for your continued and strong support which has led to the Aruz being the most popular SUV in Malaysia – this is truly an important milestone for us,”

Further, on the Aruz crossover Dato’Zainal said that the company was able to improve its production process for better delivery of the car. He added that Perodua is keeping its sales target to 235,000 units by the end of 2019.

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