Perodua sells 20,399 vehicles in April

KUALA LUMPUR: Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd’s (Perodua) sales decreased 16.5 per cent to 20,399 vehicles in April from 24,431 units sold last month.

The manufacturer said the low sales recorded was mainly due to semiconductor chip shortage affecting multiple industries globally.

President and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad said the chip shortage is the company’s top priority at present and deploying all its resources to handle it.

This include working closely with the government and business partners for viable solutions.

“Perodua remains committed towards timely deliveries, aided by our economies of scale.

“We are doing all we can to deliver as many cars as possible before the expected expiry of the government’s sales tax exemption in end-June,” he said in a statement today.

Perodua managed to produce 20,278 vehicles in April 2021, pushing its year-to-date (YTD) production to 80,661 units.

Of the total vehicles sold in April, the newly-launched Ativa accounted for 4,624 units, or over 22 per cent of the sales, thus lifting the total units of Ativas registered since its March 3 launch to nearly 9,000.

Perodua said demand for the Ativa remains strong with average bookings of nearly 290 daily.

He said the waiting period for the Ativa is currently between two and four months depending on the desired colour and variant.

“We advise our valued customers to speak to our authorised sales advisors for accurate and up-to-date delivery times of the various variant-colour combinations of the Ativa,” he added.

Meanwhile, Perodua’ YTD sales recorded at 78,304 vehicles, representing a 74 per cent boost over the 45,034 units sold in the first four months of 2020.

Zainal said Perodua retained its 2021 sales target at 240,000 or 9.0 per cent increase from the 220,163 units sold in 2020.

Perodua expect to lead a record purchase of locally-sourced components amounting to about RM6.5 billion this year.

Perodua also aims to produce 272,000 units this year, representing 23 per cent increase from 2020’s production at 220,968 units.

Source: NST