KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 19): Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) is aiming for sales of 209,000 vehicles for 2018, 2% higher than 204,900 vehicles sales registered in 2017, mainly driven by continued strong demand for its current model line up.

In statement today, Perodua said sales in 2017 came from the momentum carried by its Bezza in the earlier part of 2017, and the continued demand for its other models have helped make the company the top-selling carmaker in Malaysia for the 12th year running

Perodua President and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Aminar Rashid Salleh said based on the company's intemal calculations, management expects the total industry volume to increase to 590,000 units in 2018, which would see Perodua's market share at slightly above 35%.

Aminar said 2017 sales of 204,900 vehicles was above Perodua‘s earlier target of 202,000; however, the 2017 performance was slightly lower than the 207,100 recorded in 2016, amidst challenging market conditions, intense competition and strict hire purchase guidelines.

“That being said, we are happy to say that we expect the numbers to climb back up this year due to favourable economic conditions as well as the continued momentum for the new Myvi,” he said.

The new Perodua Myvi has garnered over 36,000 bookings since order-taking began in November 2017, and over 11,000 units have been delivered to date.

“We expect more registrations moving forward, as most of the customers who placed orders last year wanted their cars delivered in 2018. That being said, we are also doing our level best to meet demand especially for the 1.5 variants, which was beyond our expectations," he said.

“Perodua Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, our manufacturing arm, is currently working overtime to ensure deliveries are made within an acceptable time frame,” he added.

Aminar said that the increase in demand this year will also have a positive impact on vehicle production with an estimated 215,334 units to be produced at both its manufacturing facilities this year compared with 200,146 units produced in 2017.

Perodua has two vehicle manufacturing companies. Perodua Manufacturing Sdn Bhd produces the new Myvi and the Alza, while Perodua Global Manufacturing Sdn Bhd manufactures the Axia and Bezza.

Aminar said all of Perodua's after-sales businesses have shown positive growth last year as the demand for reliable and quality service increased due to better awareness amongst customers.

Perodua’s intake growth has been positive in 2017, with the company expecting its service intakes to grow by 1.9% to 2.14 million in 2018, from 2.1 million intakes in 2017.

“While we look to further increase our sales this year, we are also aggressively growing our after-sales business to meet with the expected increase in the numbers of customers moving forward. This will be done by upgrading current facilities to have more bays and by further improving our people’s competencies. This will further reduce our customers’ waiting time while at the same time increase intakes,” he said.