2022 Perodua Ativa Hybrid in Malaysia: Leasing only, 40% better fuel consumption than regular car!

• Driven by 106 PS/170 Nm electric motor, charged by 1.2L 3-cyl 82 PS/105 Nm engine
• 2nd Perodua to get EPB after Alza
• Claimed fuel consumption of 3.2 litres/100 km
• 5-year lease-only programme

This is it, the 2022 Perodua Ativa Hybrid in Malaysia isn't a mystery anymore, as Perodua themselves have revealed it all and handed over the first few units to customers just a moment ago at Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

Perodua Ativa Hybrid specs

Our Ativa Hybrid is a direct rebadge of the Daihatsu Rocky e:Smart Hybrid, and as such comes fully-imported (CBU) from Japan. Everything that makes the Rocky a Rocky is present here; with the only discernible difference on the exterior being the Perodua badges.

Exterior kit encapsulates LED headlights, 17-inch 5-lug wheels (pretty similar to what the D27A Perodua Alza has), dual-tone white/black paint, and a very familiar rear end.

Yes, plenty of pure-JDM street cred, but owners cannot pluck out the Perodua logos and paste the blue-tinged Daihatsu D's in place – these cars are leased, and they need to be returned in 5 years.

As for the leasing mechanism, customers will be tied to a 5-year plan with a mileage cap of 100,000 km over the 5-years. An upfront payment of RM 2,150 is required with a monthly repayment of RM500.

It will be an all-inclusive plan covering road tax, insurance, and maintenance. Owners will only be required to fork out only for fuel costs.

Digressions aside the bigger news of the Ativa Hybrid is what it packs inside. This will be the second Perodua model to come with an electric parking brake (EPB) after the Alza, to better supplement the stop-and-go function of its adaptive cruise control (ACC). Beyond that, it also gets a full suite of ADAS.

The air-cond controls differ from the regular Ativas too, with knobs flanking the little digital screen instead of the regular buttons on the cars sold here. Completing the interior are leather-plus-fabric seats, and the 7-inch digital instrument cluster.

Under the hood of this small SUV is the main event, where there's a series-hybrid system. The car is driven by a 106 PS/170 Nm electric motor, while its 1.2-litre WA-VEX three-cylinder petrol engine (82 PS/105 Nm) acts as a generator to charge up the 4.3 Ah lithium-ion battery.

This arrangement eliminates the need for a conventional gearbox, making it a pretty compact and light powertrain. All in, this allows the Ativa Hybrid to a net a fuel efficiency figure of 31.3 km/litre on the Malaysian Driving Cycle (MDC) (or 3.2 litre/100 km).

This is a marked improvement over the regular Ativa turbo's 18.9 km/litre (5.3 litre/100 km) on the NEDC test cycle. The difference between NEDC and MDC is negligible so it's still reasonable to say that the Ativa Hybrid is 40 percent more fuel efficient

Still based on the Daihatsu New Global Architecture (DNGA), the Ativa Hybrid also offers "Smart Pedal" one-pedal driving feature too.