Perodua revises down sales forecast

SUBANG JAYA: Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) has revised downwards its full-year sales forecast to 190,000 units, from 195,000 units set previously, partly due to the Japan disaster and newly-amended Hire Purchase Act.

"The tsunami has impacted production, which in turn, affected sales. Thankfully, this month the production is back to normal, like pre-tsunami volumes," managing director Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said here yesterday.

He added that the amended Act has also affected its sales.

"In general, we saw a 20-25 per cent decline in bookings. To a certain extend, the process of buying a vehicle has been lengthened.

"Of course, it's not fair to say that bookings declined because of the revised Act itself. It is also due to other factors like consumers' 'wait-and-see' attitude, looking at the economy situation, subsidies, and others," he explained.

The good news is that the negative impact has been cushioned by its new Myvi launched last month.

"Sales of the new Myvi have been very good. So far, there are 7,000-8,000 units of the new Myvi on the road. To date, we have received bookings for more than 23,000 units," he said.

He was speaking to the media after the launch of Tweckbot, a first-of-its-kind Twitter-based free safety check in Malaysia. Someone with a Twitter account can send a request to a nearby mobile team for a free 15-point safety check, just in time for the Hari Raya holidays.

For the programme, Perodua has allocated 20 staff into five mobile teams, which will visit 14 locations within the Klang Valley area between July 28 and August 10. They can potentially check 40 vehicles a day.

These locations include Subang, Ampang, Sentul, Kg Baru, Cheras, Serdang, Puchong, Wangsa Maju, Selayang, Shah Alam, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Bangsar