Perodua tailors package for teachers

KUALA LUMPUR: Perodua is introducing a package tailored for teachers in ts effort to boost sales.

It is offering a rebate of RM1,000, a personal accident insurance plan worth RM20,000, and hire purchase rates from as low as 2.7 per cent from participating banks.

In a statement on Monday, Perodua said the  "Terima Kasih, Cikgu" package is effective from May 16-Nov 15 and valid for all Perodua variants, including the S series.

Teacher's Day falls on May 16.

Perodua said the package is open to all teachers and lecturers from both public and private institutions of learning.

"Early birds who book their vehicles between May 16 and May 31 are entitled to a RM200 petrol gift card," said Perodua president and CEO Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh.

 -Bernama

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Perodua promises global standards when new plant opens

KUALA LUMPUR: Perodua says its new factory in Rawang will start production by mid-2014.

The RM790mil plant is expected to have annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles on a single shift, said managing director Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh in a statement.

"So far, everything is on schedule and Perodua will start hiring 1,200 people soon.

"With the completion of the plant, the entire group would be poised to improve its quality, efficiency, productivity and cost management to global standards," he said.

He said the plant would house the country's most advanced automation, robotics, machinery and equipment as well as human capital development system.

"With the support of our partner Daihatsu Motor Co, the plant will be a role model for the entire Perodua group in terms of overall operation and approach," said Aminar Rashid.

He said in line with its vision to become a global company, the group is set to spend RM2.3bil in capital expenditure up to 2018 to upgrade all its operations.

The new plant, the second for Perodua, has a built-up area of 65,000 sq m and a paid-up capital of RM200mil with an authorised capital of RM500mil.

 -Bernama

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Perodua launches value-for-money S-Series

KUALA LUMPUR: Perodua today launched its value-for-money "S-Series" with three new variants for Viva, Myvi and Alza.

Its managing director Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said the group aimed to achieve sales of 7,500 units of the S-Series monthly in the domestic market.

"We need to produce more value-added products in order to remain relevant in the market and the introduction of the S-Series will further boost our sales," he told reporters before the launch of the S-Series today.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin later launched the S-Series after laying the first foundation stone for Perodua's new RM790 million factory.

Aminar Rashid said the launch of the new variants would contribute towards achieving the car maker's 194,000 sales target this year, and account for some 45 per cent of its total sales units this year.

"We have worked diligently to further improve our efficiency and transfer whatever savings we earn to our customers, in line with the government's call to give greater value in our products and services.

"It is our cost reduction process that we have been practising for the past two years that allows us to produce more value-added products without increasing the car price," he said.

He added that it was due this practice that it managed to offer customers a value average of RM4,500 per unit for the S-Series.

"The S-Series will offer overall total value of ownership with additional features at no additional cost to customers," he said.

On market share, he hoped that Perodua would maintain its market share of 30 per cent in the local market this year.

In conjunction with the launch, Perodua will also offer three years free service for all models registered after March 15, 2013.

The S-Series variants will be available at Perodua showrooms from March 14 onwards.

The Viva S 1.0L is priced at RM34,774.30 (AT, solid) and comes with power steering, seat height adjuster, seat under tray, seat back pocket, vanity mirror and an MP3 & WMA (Windows Media Audio) player and is currently the most affordable automatic car in the country.

Meanwhile, the Myvi 1.3 SE is priced at RM44,924.30 (MT, solid) and RM47,924.30 (AT, solid).

Among the features available are the special edition bumper, side skirting and rear spoiler.

The Alza S 1.5L is priced at RM53,517.00 (MT, solid) and RM56,517.00 (AT, solid).

These variants comes standard with rear spoilers, fog lamps and silver paint interior finish as well as chrome inner door handles.

The S-Series come in all current Perodua vehicle colours as well as its signature “Ozzy Orange”.

Perodua also announced that all its vehicles registered from March 15 onwards will enjoy a three-year free service at any of its service outlets throughout the country.

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Keep rates attractive, Perodua urges banks

KUALA LUMPUR: Perodua, which aims to sell 194,000 cars this year, hopes that the overnight policy rate (OPR), currently at three per cent, will continue to be maintained.

Managing director Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said people could afford to buy a vehicle if the OPR were to remain at the current level.

"We still need the support of the banks and we hope they will continue to support us," he said here today.

Aminar Rashid was asked whether Perodua has plan to set up a financial unit to cater to the needs of its customers at the company's Chinese New Year luncheon.

He said he was not aware of the vendor-sharing programme by the government involving two other carmakers.

A local daily, citing sources, said the government would discuss the potential of joint cooperation between Daihatsu, Perodua and Proton on the programme.

He said, however, Perodua was receptive to any discussion on the matter as it has five-year strategic roadmap which also included vendor improvement.

"If there's any programme outside our roadmap which could help local vendors, we are ready to discuss it," he said.
 -Bernama

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74,000 new Myvis recalled to fix power steering issue

KUALA LUMPUR: Perodua is undertaking a preventive measure campaign to replace the electronic power steering column (EPS) in 74,000 new Myvi variants produced between March 2011 and March 2012.

The compact car maker said this was to ensure that owners of the new Myvi enjoy optimum performance from their vehicle.

Managing director Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said the campaign was necessary as the car’s performance may not be at its best and could partially compromise the driver’s response time at low speeds.

“Based on studies conducted by Perodua, the problem could be detected when the EPS indicator is alight, after which, the driver could feel a slight heaviness at speeds of between 30 and 40 km per hour.

“This can be temporarily fixed by switching off the engine and restarting the car but, for a permanent fix and to eliminate any possibility of risk to our customers, we kindly request them to make an appointment at any of our 170 service centres, nationwide, for the replacement of the EPS column,” he said in a statement.

Aminar said the car company had already issued notification letters to the affected customers and Perodua would absorb all costs for the replacement of the EPS column.

The campaign time frame is open ended. However, customers are encouraged to make an appointment as soon as it was convenient for them to ensure that the replacement can be done orderly and smoothly. - Bernama

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Perodua retains forte but mum on sedan rumours

KUALA LUMPUR: Perodua will retain its compact car segment based on its strength, said managing director Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh.

“Whether it’s within or outside the country, the demand for compact cars is still high due to fuel-efficiency and low-carbon emissions in view of the high fuel price and efforts to promote a better environment,” he said.

The Myvi remains Perodua's bestseller.

On integrating hybrid technology into its new vehicles, Aminar Rashid said Perodua was not on that path because it was costly.

Cost would be an issue to Perodua and potential customers and the company would lose its “affordable-to-own” edge, he said, adding: “The existing internal combustion engine of our compact cars can compete and even be better than hybrid engines.”

On the possibility of advancing to the sedan segment, Aminar Rashid said feasibility studies were needed to see whether there was a demand for the vehicles.

Perodua’s current sales ratio was 5:3:2 for Myvi, Viva and Alza, respectively, he noted. — Bernama

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