TAWAU, March 23 — Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd is targeting to capture a 50 per cent share of the automotive market in Sabah this year, said its managing director Datuk Dr Zahari Husin.
He said there was good demand for its vehicles in Sabah, with Perodua currently controlling 46 per cent of the market.
“To-date, Perodua models continue to get a strong reception in Sabah, and the best-selling model in the state is Perodua Axia, followed by Perodua Bezza,” he told reporters at a dinner here last night following the conclusion of the 1,500 km journey made by the Perodua Aruz TransBorneo convoy—comprising six Aruz—from Kuching, Sarawak, to Tawau, Sabah.
Zahari said Sabah and Sarawak had high potential not only for Perodua but for the country’s entire automotive industry as there was a lot of room to explore in the vehicle market there.
“At present, vehicles in Sabah and Sarawak are mainly concentrated in major cities but with the upgrading of infrastructure, we believe demand for vehicles will rise,” he said.
He said the Aruz could spearhead the sales growth of Perodua in Sabah.
The sport-utility vehicle, he noted, was an energy-efficient vehicle certified by the government and had the best-in-class rated fuel efficiency.
“This makes it very suitable for East Malaysia, as this model offers the best value at RM74,000 for the X variant and RM79,900 for the Advance variant,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zahari said in the first two months of this year, Perodua sold 37,373 vehicles nationwide, up 7.3 per cent against 34,830 in the corresponding period last year.
Perodua had a 43.3 per cent share of the 88,288 vehicles sold in the market during the Jan-Feb 2019 period. — Bernama
