• 2023 sales target of 314,000 units, up 11.3 percent from 2021
• 2023 production target of 330,000 units, which is 103% of the available capacity
• Perodua forecasts Malaysia’s TIV to be at 705,000 units, higher than MAA’s 650,000 units

Buoyed by strong demand for budget-friendly cars that the general public can trust, Perodua saw its best-ever sales in 2022 with 282,019 cars sold and along the way, became the 4th largest automotive brand in ASEAN's Top 5 biggest markets. This year, Perodua is targeting an even higher 314,000 units, up 11.3 percent from the year before.

Perodua is currently sitting on over 220,000 outstanding orders, which the company is racing against time to fulfil. Out of these, around 15,000 of the 220,000 orders were made during the Penjana zero-SST period, which has a vehicle registration cut-off date by March 2023. Some of these orders won’t be fulfilled before the cut-off date but Perodua has said that for such cases, it absorb the SST cost.

Also read: Perodua: 220k backlog orders remain but will absorb SST for orders made before 30-June 2022

To support the record high sales targets, production targets will also have to be increased, to 330,000 units. The difference between production and sales targets is due to the company’s requirement of maintaining a minimum 0.5 month worth of stockholding.

The 330,000 target is actually higher than the Perodua’s two plants’ combined installed capacity of 320,000 units.

Squeezing the extra 10,000 units will have to come from overtime and improved productivity.

Also read: Here are the latest updated waiting period for 2023 Perodua models

“This year (2023) provides a golden opportunity for us as consumers to still have confidence in the automotive market. In fact, more than half of our targeted volume is from bookings collected last year but we have yet to deliver,” said Perodua President and CEO Dato’ Sri Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

“As our normal installed annual production capacity for our Perodua Manufacturing (PMSB) and Perodua Global Manufacturing (PGMSB) plants are at 320,000 units on a two-shift cycle, we can still increase our volume by improving productivity and instituting overtime.”

The push will also have spillover effects to local vendors, from which Perodua plans to buy RM 10 billion worth of parts from local suppliers this year.

“This purchase commitment is expected to further encourage the Malaysian automotive ecosystem to further improve its production capabilities and quality standards.”

“In short, the increase in production will give much needed boost for our local industries to improve their economies of scale and to better compete with their counterparts abroad,” Dato’ Sri Zainal said.

Despite inflationary pressures, Perodua remains confident that Total Industry Volume (TIV, the industry’s terminology for total new car sales) will remain above 700,000 units.

As effects of the Penjana zero-SST period taper off and backlogged orders are being reduced, there will of course be drop in TIV, but not at the level projected by the Malaysia Automotive Association (MAA).

Last year, Malaysia’s TIV stood at a record high 720,658 units. MAA owns TIV forecast for 2023 is for 9.8 percent reduction to 650,000 units. Perodua however, is forecasting a smaller 2.2 percent reduction, to 705,000 units. Putting this against Perodua's 314,000 units sales targets, this translates to a 44.5 percent market share.

“In terms of the overall market, we believe that there is still a bright lining for the industry despite the many cost pressures. We believe that the total industry volume can go beyond 650,000 units announced by the Malaysia Automotive Association,” Dato’ Sri Zainal said.

He said based on the waiting period for most brands, as well as the still strong demand for Perodua’s vehicles the TIV has the potential to reach 700,000 units this year.