Perodua begins working on designing and developing a new sedan!

Kuala Lumpur: Perodua is currently making an assessment on the engine, platform and transmission on an upcoming sedan as it has been approved and is now in the prototype stage, according to sources attributed to Perodua president and CEO Datuk Aminar Rashid.

Although there is no confirmation on the type of platform Perodua will use on its upcoming sedan, but it is reported that it highly likely that the platform that will be employed will be an existing Toyota or Daihatsu platform, a local automotive online news portal reported yesterday.

The topic was brought up at the recent 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, where Perodua president and CEO Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh joined the media for a dinner hosted by Daihatsu Motor Company’s senior managing executive officer, Shigeharu Toda.

“Based on our more than 20 years of partnership, Daihatsu has allowed Perodua to be more involved in the design and development of our vehicles. In this process there has been transfer of technical and engineering knowledge as well as transfer of technologies,” Aminar said.

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“We would like to leverage on Daihatsu’s more than 100 years of experience in the automotive industry to remain relevant and competitive,” he further added.

Despite the big step in designing its own upper body part for its upcoming sedan car, Aminar said that Perodua would continue to share platform with Daihatsu and use Daihatsu’s engines and transmission based on existing and new technologies in future.

To further strengthen its market share in Malaysia, Perodua has hinted to introduce new models from Daihatsu’s existing models. “New product launches as well as launches of enhancement to existing product line-ups are planned mid-term to long-term.”

“Actual launch dates will depend on many factors such as launch strategy, market condition, competitors’ movement and resources planning,” Aminar said.

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Meanwhile, Daihatsu Motor Company Ltd senior managing executive officer, Shigeharu Toda said that Daihatsu would be involved in the engineering part of the car. “Having the car’s upper body part designed by Perodua will create a better product that suits the Malaysian market,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Tokyo Motor Show.

No word on when the sedan will eventually surface, though. “It’s not going to come that soon, that’s all that I will say. It will come, yes, and we think that it’s going to be a good product,” he said then.

Image Courtesy: theophiluschin.com