Daihatsu Motor’s Business Activities in ASEAN in YTD June 2021

Daihatsu Motor sold 312,000 units in ASEAN (Malaysia and Indonesia) in 2020, down 25.5% from the previous year. In Malaysia, business restrictions from March to May 2020 due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection caused a 39.1% decrease in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period of the previous year. However, demand recovered in the second half, resulting in a full-year drop of 8.3% to 222,000 units. On the other hand, in Indonesia, whose recovery from the pandemic has been slow, sales decreased 48.8% to 91,000 units in 2020. In the first half of 2021, sales in Malaysia increased 31.1% to 98,000 units, and in Indonesia rose 50.3% to 75,000 units. However, compared to the same period of 2019, sales in Malaysia decreased 20.1% and in Indonesia dropped 14.0%, indicating that sales have yet to recover to the pre-corona level in both countries. In Malaysia, although sales somewhat recovered in the first five months of 2021, production and sales activities were restricted again in June 2021 due to the re-emergence of the new corona infection. Activities were resumed sequentially from August 16 when the restrictions were relaxed, but due to the significant impact of the pandemic on manufacturing and sales, Daihatsu’s local joint venture Perodua revised its initial sales target of 240,000 units in September 2021 to 214,000 units.

Daihatsu launched its modular unibody automobile platform DNGA-based (Daihatsu New Global Architecture) products in ASEAN in 2021. Most components have been newly developed for the platform. Launched in Malaysia in March 2021, the Ativa small SUV is the first DNGA-based model to be sold outside Japan. Based on Rocky released in Japan in 2019, it has been optimized for the Malaysian market in cooperation with Perodua. The selling price of the Ativa is 61,500 MYR, which is lower compared to two rival small SUVs the Honda HR-V (104,000 MYR) and the Proton X50 (79,200 MYR). Since it is produced in Malaysia, the local procurement rate of parts has been increased to 95% to achieve a competitive price.

Starting with the Ativa, Daihatsu plans to expand its DNGA-based product lineup in the A / B segment in ASEAN.