As the industry gets back into gear with the resumption of business activities allowed by the government after a long period of forced closure, sales and new vehicle deliveries are picking up again. It is clear that although these are challenging times, there is still demand for new vehicles, as evident by Perodua registering almost 7,000 new vehicles in the roughly two weeks of operation last month.
The Malaysian carmaker reported that it delivered 6,988 vehicles in August, compared with only 655 units in July. In the first 6 months of this year, before the shutdown, the average sales each month were around 16,000 units. On a year-to-date basis, Perodua registered 104,933 vehicles, a 12.5% drop compared with 119,977 vehicles sold between January and August last year.
The factory is also in full swing as it can operate with full workforce capacity due to Perodua’s initiative to have its employees vaccinated using the PIKAS program. Some 13,000 employees and also suppliers received the first dose of the vaccine from the end of July. They were vaccinated at the headquarters complex in Sg. Choh, Selangor.
From January to July this year, the number of vehicles produced at the two factories in the Perodua complex totalled 98,944 units, which was 1,116 units more than the same period in 2020. This was probably due to Perodua having boosted production in view of the high demand that had been creating a backlog of deliveries.
“We are working on closing the 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,” said Perodua President & CEO, Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad.
However, he said that the company has lowered its sales target for 2021. “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,” he said, while expecting that production and registration numbers will multiply in September as the situation normalises.
“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,” Dato’ Zainal said.
He said that Perodua was able to secure enough supply of semiconductor chips 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,” he added.
To know more about Perodua’s range of vehicles and services available, visit www.perodua.com.my.
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