2022 Perodua Alza H in Garnet Red

It was reported earlier this month that Perodua had collected over 200,000 bookings, partly assisted by the sales tax exemption that expired on June 30. To enjoy the SST exemption, cars booked before July 1 have to be registered by March 31 next year, and P2 intends to fulfil all these outstanding orders by then.

Well, it’s no longer 200k. At yesterday’s launch of the new Alza, Perodua president and CEO Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad told the media that “I just checked, and the actual number of bookings, as of now, is 243,000 units”. The carmaker’s intention to fulfil the orders by end-March 2023 still stands.

The P2 chief added that based on the current production planning to meet the SST registration deadline, the market leader’s 2022 sales will far exceed the original target for this year, which is 247,800 units. Meeting that would have already set a new record – Perodua’s highest annual sales to date is 240,341 units, set in 2019.

2022 Perodua Alza AV in Vintage Brown

“If we look at current production planning, to meet (the SST deadline), on average we need to produce 26,000 units a month. But if we make 26,000 a month from July to December, and add with the 127,000 from January to June, then our volume will exceed the 247,800 units that we targeted. If we follow the calculations it will be over 280,000,” Zainal said.

“But put the volume aside – the most important thing now is how to deliver and allow customers to enjoy the government’s SST exemption,” he added. Zainal also said that the company will announce a revised sales target for 2022 – the higher number is being set based on a few factors: current bookings, the restoration of P2 vendors’ production systems and capacity, and of course, the market’s response to the all-new Alza.

Speaking of the new Alza, Perodua already has over 30,000 bookings for the seven-seater MPV, with 65% of customers opting for the RM75,500 top-spec AV. If you’re in the initial 30k batch, the waiting period should be less than 10 months. Check out our full launch report and walk-around video of the new Alza.