Perodua sold 117,100 vehicles in first half of 2018, 40.4% market share; 209k year-end target maintained

Perodua today announced its sales and after-sales results for the first half of 2018, revealing that it sold 117,100 vehicles in the first six months in the year. This figure, a record for the national carmaker, is a 17.5% increase over the 99,700 vehicles that found homes in the same period last year.

Compared to a total industry volume (TIV) of 289,700 units in the first half, this translates to a 40.4% market share, another half-year record. Market share stood at 39.7% in January, 42.2% in February, 41.5% in March, 42.3% in April, 51% in May and 31% in June. The drop in the last month of the first half was attributed to the overall market sales spike brought on by the zero-rated goods and services tax (GST).

“Due to the increase in sales, Perodua has also increased its vehicle production to 109,000 units between January and June 2018, which is an increase of 10% compared with 99,000 units in the same period last year,” said president and CEO Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh.

Of the 117,100 vehicles sold, 46,860 of them were of the new Myvi – to date, the hatchback recorded over 115,000 bookings since its launch last November, with more than 65,000 delivered. The rest consisted of 33,870 Axias, 23,555 Bezzas and 12,815 Alzas. All four models retain at the top of their respective segments, according to Perodua.

“We attribute this sales record to continued strong demand for the new Myvi as well as for our other models in the first quarter, while towards the end of the second quarter we saw a surge in sales due to the zero-rated goods and services tax,” said Aminar.

Even with this encouraging performance, the company is maintaining its full-year sales target of 209,000 units, a two percent increase compared to the 204,900 it sold last year. It is also keeping its production target at slightly over 215,300, a 7.5% increase on last year.

Aminar said that this is because Perodua expects the second half of the year to be challenging due to the introduction of the sales and services tax (SST), which will come into effect on September 1, adding that the tax’s impact on car prices has yet to be fully determined.

“Our sales peaked in May at almost 22,000 units. However, we do not foresee this momentum continuing in the subsequent quarters of the year. While engagement with the government is ongoing, we are still unclear on the full mechanism of the impending sales and service tax.

“On the assumption that there will be an increase in vehicle prices from September onwards, we foresee that the public will go through a period of adjustment hence resulting in less demand for a certain duration. Perhaps the impact would be up until December 2018 where, typically, most players would give good offers to reducer their carryover stock into the following year,” Aminar said.

Perodua also received over 185,000 bookings in the first half, a 24% increase over last year and record for the brand. The company scored 40,000 bookings in June alone, and Aminar said that it is working overtime to meet the demand. He did add, however, that those who made their orders this month are only expected to receive their cars after the SST reintroduction.

“Unfortunately, apart from a few units of the Alza, we expect all orders made this month to be fulfilled only from September 1 onwards. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused but we believe we still offer the best value in the market at present,” said Aminar.

In terms of after-sales, Perodua saw a six percent increase in service intakes at its 179 service centres, up from 1.026 million vehicles in 1H17 to 1.083 million in 1H18. Lastly, the company announced that it saw a 53% decrease in capital expenditure from RM257 million to RM123 million in the first half of the year, due to “delays in certain projects,” one of which we assume to be its next all-new model, rumoured to be an SUV.

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