Earlier this year, Perodua president and CEO Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said that the national carmaker was “seriously considering” a compact SUV, admitting the segment’s growing popularity in Malaysia. His statement all but confirms that the company will build such a thing – a next-generation Kembara, if you’d like. Resident Photoshop expert Theophilus Chin has already shown us what that car could look like.

Now it’s the turn of local designer Idiyaz Baharuddin, and it’s a fairly handsome machine, taking after the new Daihatsu Terios quite a bit. At the front, sharp headlights flank a slim upper grille with a U-shaped garnish reminiscent of the new Myvi, while a large lower grille sits below it.

On-trend details include a black roof, a D-pillar kink and turbine-style two-tone alloy wheels, and there are also broad two-piece tail lights joined by a strip of red trim on the tailgate. The prerequisite black trim on the bumpers, side skirts and wheel arches provides the much-needed off-roader look.

Expect the real Kembara to be smaller than the seven-seat Terios, perhaps based on the DN Trec concept shown at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show. Under the bonnet, you’d likely find the 102 hp/136 Nm 1.5 litre Dual VVT-i engine from the new Myvi, paired to a four-speed automatic transmission.