An average of 290 bookings are made each day for Perodua’s new Ativa compact crossover.
The sales story at Perodua over the month of April 2021 has been a mix of both good and bad news. That is because while overall sales have dipped slightly from the month prior, its Ativa compact crossover has been continually flying out of the showrooms at an astonishing rate.
Going into more detail about its slightly sales slump in April first, the Malaysian automaker has only sold 20,399 cars over the past month. A drop of some 16.5% month-on-month from the 24,431 units shifted in March, this decline in sales however has not much to do with declining customer demand, but mainly because of production bottlenecks caused by the semiconductor shortage issue that is affecting much of the car world currently.
Despite the aforementioned production difficulties though, Perodua has still nevertheless managed to send another 4,624 units of its newly launched Ativa out of its showrooms in April. In fact, with a waiting list of 2-4 months and average bookings for this compact crossover hovering around 290 mark every day, it should therefore come as no surprise that this latest addition to its model lineup accounted for nearly 22% of the Malaysian automaker’s sales last month.
Now delving deeper into Perodua’s sales figures for 2021 to date, the local automaker has sold total of 78,304 cars this year. An increase of over 74% over the 45,034 units sold in the same time last year due to the lockdown restrictions that came into effect at the end of March, some of this sales surge can also be attributed to the aforementioned Ativa, with nearly 9,000 units having found new owners since its debut two months ago.
Despite its production problems too, Perodua remains confident that it is on track to meet its sales and production targets for the year at 240,000 and 272,000 units respectively. A rise of 9% and 23% from 2020 figures, the Malaysian car company also predicts that it intends to lead in a record purchase of RM6.5 billion worth of locally-sourced components, as well as bumping up its service intakes by 20% to 2.4 million in 2021.
Speaking about Perodua’s current state of affairs, Perodua President and Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad states: “The chip shortage is our top priority at present and we are deploying all our resources to deal with it, including working closely with the government and our business partners for viable solutions.
“Perodua remains committed towards timely deliveries, aided by our economies of scale. We thank our valued customers very much for their patience. We are doing all we can to deliver as many cars as possible before the expected expiry of the government’s sales tax exemption in end-June,” he added.
PRESS RELEASE: Perodua registered an estimated 20,399 vehicles in April, with the newly-launched Ativa making up 4,624 units, or over 22% of that figure and lifting the total units of Ativas registered since its 3 March launch to nearly 9,000.
Demand for the Perodua Ativa remains strong with average bookings of nearly 290 daily.
“We thank all Malaysians for their strong support,” said Perodua President and Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad.
“The waiting period for the Ativa is currently between two and four months, depending on the desired colour and variant. We advise our valued customers to speak to our authorised sales advisors for accurate and up-to-date delivery times of the various variant-colour combinations of the Ativa,” he added.
On a month-to-month comparison, sales dipped by 16.5% to 20,399 units from 24,431 units mainly due to the semiconductor shortage, which is affecting multiple industries globally.
“Despite the global semiconductor chip shortage, Perodua managed to produce 20,278 vehicles in April 2021, pushing our year-to-date production to 80,661 units,” Dato’ Zainal said.
Perodua’s April 2021 sales figure brings its year-to-date sales tally to 78,304 vehicles. This represents a 74% boost over the 45,034 units sold in the first four months of 2020, due to minimal registrations in April 2020 as the first Movement Control Order hit its stride nationwide.
“The chip shortage is our top priority at present and we are deploying all our resources to deal with it, including working closely with the government and our business partners for viable solutions.
“Perodua remains committed towards timely deliveries, aided by our economies of scale. We thank our valued customers very much for their patience. We are doing all we can to deliver as many cars as possible before the expected expiry of the government’s sales tax exemption in end-June,” he added.
Dato’ Zainal said Perodua is maintaining its 2021 sales target at 240,000 units for now. Perodua’s 2021 sales target represents a 9% increase from the 220,163 units sold in 2020, and is expected to lead to a record purchase of RM6.5 billion worth of locally-sourced components this year.
Perodua also targets production of 272,000 units (+23% from 2020’s 220,968 units) and 2.4 million service intakes (+20% from 2020’s 2 million service intakes) this year.
