Perodua maintains sales target of 240, 000 vehicles for the year

Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad thanked the government for extending the sales tax exemption to end-2021.

KUALA LUMPUR: Perodua is retaining its sales target of 240, 000 units for the year despite the ongoing pandemic and the semiconductor shortage.

It sold 96, 281 vehicles from January to May but it expects sales to pick up as demand remains strong for all of its models, Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad said in a statement.

“While Perodua’s year-to-date May sales of 96, 281 units is 82% more than the 52, 920 units sold in the same period last year, this achievement is distorted as the first Movement Control Order was in place from March to May last year, ” he said

Zainal said a fairer comparison would be against 2019, when Perodua sold 105, 745 units in the first five months, which was 8.9% more than it did in the same period this year.

“The impact of the pandemic and the semiconductor shortage can be seen in the 12% sales reduction from April’s 20, 399 units to May’s 17, 973 units.

“Despite these challenges and barring further uncertainties moving forward, we believe we will be able to meet our 240, 000-unit sales target for 2021 as demand remains strong for all of our models, ” he said.

Zainal also thanked the government for extending the sales tax exemption to end-2021, which will bolster its strong demand, encourage economic activity and help sustain the Malaysian automotive ecosystem.

“We understand that the measures taken by the government to contain the pandemic are necessary to ensure the people’s health and safety, and we, along with our suppliers and dealers, will cooperate fully with the government to flatten the curve, ” he added.

Perodua manufactured 18, 283 cars in May, boosting its year-to-date production to 98, 944 units.