Remember the Perodua Rusa? Launched in 1996 or two years after the first Kancil broke cover, the compact van was a localised remake of the Daihatsu Hijet of the time, aimed at both commercial and private owner usage, and accommodated between two to seven persons depending on configuration. Here, graphic rendering expert Theophilus Chin has turned his attention to what a present-day iteration might look like.
Swapping the name’s ‘s’ for a ‘z’ yields an Aruz anagram, and though the modern SUV’s tall-riding, rear-wheel-drive layout is shared with the Rusa, the latter is a van of a much more basic offering. Much like his Kancil redesign, Theo’s rendition here is based on the 2020 Daihatsu Gran Max, which itself is the direct successor to the Hijet and Zebra that the original Rusa was based on.
The front bumper gets resculpted to house a pair of inserts and the grille is now a larger black panel with the Perodua logo centralised, while the daylight opening of the Gran Max is retained for passenger usage. The front and rear door handles have been refinished to match the exterior bodywork colour, instead of black on the Gran Max.
Along the sides, the Gran Max to Ruza rendition swaps steel wheels for a set of two-tone alloys from the Aruz, and a set of contrasting trim panels along the lower halves of the front and rear doors to break up the commercial van’s slab-sidedness.
The rear end of the Gran Max is largely retained, save for an additional shark-fin antenna on the roof and tail lamps with pointier top ends, while Theo has also relocated the tailgate key barrel to the centre of the number plate lamp housing, from the original right-hand side location.
Inside, the Gran Max dashboard architecture is carried over, though Theo has added some creature comfort with a multi-function infotainment unit. Here, wind-up windows are swapped for electrically operated units as well, with window switches integrated into the interior door handles. Elsewhere, it retains the Gran Max manual air-conditioning rotary controls and dashboard-mounted gearlever.
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Well i can say its a good idea for p2 to produce another Rusa in 2020, becos now a day quite alot people like doin small2 bisnes and they need affordable and cheap to maintain van to deliver stuff.
Especially for those who doin night market bisnes. Now a day happening alot. So new Rusa good to replace those older toyota lite ace and nissan vannette.
The commercial & transport market have moved on from Liteace my friend. Now customers are demanding for more roomy vans like Hiace & NV350. For moving goods, a pickup truck is more versatile. A smaller van like Ruza is neither here nor there and won’t sell well in today’s market.
Perodua should really rebadge the Daihatsu Gran Max because this is a Game-Changing comercial van that is also sold in Japan. It is very suitable for people doing business as this van have clean design, low maintenance cost, reliable quality and most importantly, this car uses Toyota engine
What you keep repeating just reinforces the common knowledge that Perodua is not a real national carmaker but merely a rebadger for Daihatsu & Toyota.
If that is true, then Perodua should be made to pay back all the tax-free profits, incentives and tax deductions they enjoyed as a “national carmaker” since it is proven they were never a carmaker, but in truth just a rebadger.
Perodua have been cheating us and the country for so long, they have to be forced to pay back all those bantuan & tongkat given to them.
Copy paste: “I hope Perodua fanboys don’t come here and say this tech will be in their Perodua cars.
ha ha ha ha”
Copy paste: “When did Perodua has all-wheel drive, lane departure warning, erroneous start prevention with brake control, front vehicle departure alert and an automatic high beam function, when some models still come without VSC?”
Cannot trust P2 la. They will use a different car for NCAP testing and sell the real lower quality production units to customers, basically cheating them all. Don’t believe me, go try buy the Aruz G-spec car that was ASEAN NCAP tested.
All these while Daihatsu have been active here despite having Perodua, so nope. Highly unlikely Daihatsu will hock their only model for Perodua to rebadge. It is no coincidence Rusa died a quick death after Daihatsu formalised their presence here with Grand Max commercial light trucks.
I hope Perodua fanboys don’t come here and say this will be their Perodua car. Rusa died a long time ago and did not have a successor. The family line dah mati.
ha ha ha ha
I have to say it really looks nice. The rusa was not bad in size for a family and business van. It’s a missing gap in the perodua line from what I see. And maybe have the high spec version like the Indonesian Daihatsu Luxio… hope it will become a reality
When will mitsubushi bring in the delica with its 2.4 litre triton diesel engine?
That would be great of Perodua come out with a luxury passenger van like Luxio in Indonesia. It looks more like a baby Alphard. I will definitely buy one as van is more versatile as a family man. NowAdys everything buy off shelves and assembled yourself or self pick up delivery.
We are interested in having the prices of the new peroduo
when the rusa failed, just change the “s” to “z” and try to sell again.
I believe Malaysia people are still waiting a nice n affordable van , low maintenance n low fuel consumption .