What’s in a name? Why the new 2022 Perodua Alza D27A won’t actually be called an Alza?

• It's rumoured the new Alza will adopt a new name
• The new name will signify a new, more premium look for the seven-seater
• Perodua hasn't trademarked any new names, all things points toward an existing registered name

The Perodua Alza has been around since 2009 and is one of the oldest new vehicles for sale in Malaysia. Just a quick glance at its spec sheet will confirm this. Fortunately, come April 2022 the current model will cease production in lieu of a full-model change. However, it’s rumoured that it won’t be carrying on with the Alza nameplate.

Boohoo, we know. But there might be some logic in a name change for what would essentially be the Alza’s swankier replacement.

After all, even William Shakespeare posed quite a poking prose, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” Therefore, it would appear that an Alza by any other name would be just as… practical and comfortable?

Anyways we digress. You may have noticed that we used the word “essentially” in the second paragraph. There’s a reason for it.

Mainly, the name change is still rumoured and not set in stone. What is set in stone however is that the next Alza will be based on the new Daihatsu Xenia; making it the second model in Perodua riding on the DNGA platform after the Ativa. The next generation Toyota Avanza will also be based on the Xenia.

As you can see from photos online as well as this rendering by visual artist Theottle, the Xenia rocks more of an SUV-esque vibe with a higher ride height and beefier, more pronounced bodywork.

That would firmly place the new Alza among the current crop of SUV-esque seven-seater mini MPVs such as the Mitsubishi Xpander and Honda BR-V as well as the aforementioned new Avanza.

Not only will the Xenia-based Alza mark a rapid departure from the modest, low-riding appearance of the outgoing Alza, the Xenia’s interior will also be a monumental leap ahead in terms of refinement and technology that will carry over to the new Alza.

Therefore, it makes sense that ditching the Alza name would be a perfect opportunity to signify how the new model will reflect a more premium persona. In other words, it’ll be a rebirth of their entry-level seven-seater.

Even UMW Toyota is (rumoured) ditching the Avanza name for the all-new generation model; adopting the better sounding Veloz name.

Also read: UMWT confirms 2022 successor to Toyota Avanza, Veloz variant rumoured

Some digging about has shown that Perodua hasn’t registered any new names recently. This points towards them using an existing trademarked name.

Some snooping on MyIPO has revealed that Perodua trademarked a few other names together with the Ativa:

• Axeda
• Myca
• Lasaq
• Impax

Now let’s take a quick look at the four potential names for the new Alza and see if we can narrow it down to a winner. In its early days, Perodua took a more direct approach by applying some words from our national language in its naming convention.

This gave us some of their most popular models such as the Kancil, Kelisa, Rusa and Kembara. Nonetheless, not all of them followed this convention, which led us to the likes of the Myvi, Axia and Viva among others.

Lately however, the best-selling carmaker in the country has taken on a more homophonous approach with their naming convention like they did with the Aruz and Bezza.

From the four trademarked names above, the Lasaq and Impax very much fall in line with the latter approach to naming. For some reason, the Myca just doesn’t sit right with us and seems fit for a smaller vehicle.

Therefore, the only name from the list of four that sort of falls into this school of thought is the Axeda. It rolls off the tongue very much along the lines of the Ativa. Therefore, the only name from the list that fits the bill is the Axeda.

So, if we were betting people; which we aren’t because we’re broke, we’d put our money on the new Alza being called the Axeda. Don’t hold it against us though.