Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad said the impact of Covid-19 and component supply issues are still present but the company was able to work with its suppliers and dealers to reduce the impact.
“Our focus is now to expedite the vehicles delivery to our customers before the sales tax exemption deadline of June 30.
Zainal.
“That being said, Perodua also echoes MAA’s (Malaysia Automotive Association) request to further extend the sales tax exemption as factors such as the global semiconductor supply disruption and Covid-19 cases are still impacting the industry,” he said.
Zainal said that the automotive industry, including its local ecosystem thanked the government for the sales tax exemption initiative as it was able to keep demand high and sustain the industry throughout the worst of the pandemic.
“Right now, the local automotive ecosystem is starting to recover and an extension in the sales tax exemption is what the industry needs for sustained growth during this recovery period,” he said.
On a month-on-month comparison, Perodua registered 26,759 vehicles in March 2022, a 9.5% increase from 24,433 units sold in March 2021.
Compared with February 2022, sales jumped 53.2% from 17,421 units registered a month before.
Perodua’s highest monthly sales achievement was recorded in October 2021 with 27,858 units registered.
“Moving forward, we foresee the second quarter of 2022 to be the highlight for the automotive industry as brands will deliver as many vehicles as they can within that three-month period.
“While semiconductor chip supply and Covid-19 would still influence production, we expect that production and registration will continue to improve. We do not foresee other factors such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to have a major impact on Perodua’s production moving forward.”
“Based on these factors, we are maintaining our 247,000 sales target for this year,” Zainal said.
