Since we wrote about it this morning, the leak has become bigger, and we now have the complete set of the alleged Perodua Jaguh brochure for our scrutiny. New photos, more speculation on whether they may be real or not. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
The front shot that was leaked earlier showed a lightly modified Toyota Etios sedan with a Perodua face. The bits that appeared different compared to the Toyota original were the front grille (slimmer, with a Perodua badge), Myvi-style pull-type door handles and of course, the Alza-sourced alloy wheels.
Now a rear shot has emerged, and here again the sedan looks almost identical to the Etios, right down to the full-width chrome strip and the exact same light graphics. The only thing changed is the badge, which now features Perodua’s P rather than Toyota’s T. Oh, and the fuel filler cap is on the right side, whereas Peroduas and Toyotas usually have them on the left. Perhaps we’re looking at a selfie.
Quite a lot of other details don’t quite add up, adding to the MyVAP and sliding second-row seats (suggesting that there are more than two rows here; otherwise they’d be referred to as the back or rear seats) irregularities we mentioned earlier. The new pictures add more holes to the brochure’s already fragile claim of authenticity.
In the washed-out pictures, you can just about see that the red interior (rather bold for a Perodua, don’t you think?) has a manual shifter. The Toyota Etios is only available with a five-speed manual gearbox, yet it seems unlikely that Perodua would launch a manual-only new model, especially in what will is to be the flagship vehicle in its lineup. It’s also worth noting that Perodua only utilises studio shots in all its brochures.
The blurry-to-the-point-of-being-illegible spec sheet doesn’t show much either, other than the model variation names – J, G, V and VX – which is similar to the grade structure used by Toyota. Needless to say, Perodua has its own unique set of variant grades.
Another obvious anomaly is the fact that the Jaguh looks like a simple rebadge job both inside and out, unlike the more thorough re-engineering work we’ve come to expect from Perodua of late. And let’s not forget the fact that the Jaguh name has been previously ‘assigned’, in this case to Modenas for its 175 cc cruiser.
Seen as a whole, all the clues cast serious doubts over this ‘leak’. Real or not, looks like someone put in a lot of effort into these materials, which at the very least should stand as a good preview (if not an official leak it’s said to be) of the real Perodua sedan, should the car really be based on the Toyota Etios.
