Daihatsu’s Malaysian Subsidiary Perodua Increases Investment to Launch New Models

Malaysia’s national automaker Perodua, partially owned by Japan’s Daihatsu Motor, increased automobile sales 5.8% year-on-year to 240,000 units in 2019, setting a new record high. Although nearly all models declined, the new Azur, launched in January 2019, added over 30,000 units to the total. In the first five months of 2020, sales declined 50.0% to 53,000 units. Due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, sales operations were suspended nationwide from March 18 until the first half of May. For this reason, sales in April were zero. Following the resumption of dealership operations, the automaker slashed prices to promote sales.

In January 2020, Perodua announced its plan to develop new models based on the DNGA (Daihatsu New Global Architecture) platform and its intention to become a development hub in ASEAN. In 2020, the automaker plans to increase capital investment by 86% to 1.06 billion MYR. Of which, 150 million MYR will be invested in R&D and about 500 million MYR in the launch of new models. The company plans to launch a new compact SUV in the fourth quarter of 2020 or after.