Perodua bookings up since fuel price hike

The Viva is the most popular choice with a 24 per cent increase in bookings followed by the Myvi and the Kancil, says Perodua managing director

CAR buyers are starting to switch to or buy Perodua cars due to the 41 per cent fuel price increase last week.

Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) cars especially its compact models such as the Kancil, Myvi and Viva are known to be fuel-efficient due to small engine capacities.

Perodua managing director Datuk Syed Abdull Hafiz Syed Abu Bakar said within 10 days of the fuel price increase there has been a 50 per cent increase in its showroom traffic nationwide.

"The Viva is the most popular choice with a 24 per cent increase in bookings as of this morning followed by the Myvi and the Kancil," Syed Abdull Hafiz told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday after unveiling Perodua's new corporate colours.

He said between the last quarter last year and February this year there were 5,000-6,000 bookings for the Viva a month. This has increased to between 7,000 and 8,000 bookings a month between March and May this year.

"We should get a clearer picture on the full impact of the higher fuel price on Perodua compact cars in six months once everybody gets over the initial fuel shock and have finished queuing up for the government fuel subsidies," he added.

On the car market outlook for the year, Syed Abdull Hafiz said in spite of the fuel price increase, people will still buy new cars depending on car loans.

He said total industry volume is expected to rise five per cent to around 510,000 by year-end compared with 490,000 last year.

He said the Myvi and the Viva are currently the country's top selling passenger cars with 250,000 Myvi and 72,000 Viva on the roads.

Perodua is the country's largest national carmaker and together with Proton Holdings Bhd command 60 per cent of the country's car market.

The new Perodua corporate identity comes with a brand statement "Building Cars, People First".

The rebranding also entails a new look for the Perodua logo (above), which has been reshaped with a jewel, like finishing and the word Perodua is now presented in the new exclusive logotype.