Like many car manufacturers, Perodua too is facing severe disruption in its supply chain, leading to long waiting period for its customers. Being Malaysia’s No.1 car brand is a double-edged sword - because of the scale Perodua operates in, everything good and bad is amplified to a level few other manufacturers face.

Perodua sells nearly a quarter million cars a year. For 2022, it targets to sell 247,800 units, despite the ongoing challenge in getting enough parts to build enough cars. The global shortage in semiconductor parts, rising raw material cost, and specific to Malaysia - labour shortage, are factors causing the supply chain disruption.

According to a recent report by The Edge, Perodua has over 200,000 backlogged orders to clear. The company can only produce about 28,000 cars every month.

If the 28,000 cars per month output is maintained every month (which is a huge challenge, because of seasonal public holidays), it would take over 7 months to clear the backlogged orders alone, and this not counting new orders that are still coming in.

Still, Perodua told the business publication that it is aiming to fulfil all outstanding orders before 31-March 2023, the cut-off date to qualify for SST-exempted prices (for bookings made on or before 30-June 2022).

“Customers who booked on and before June 30, 2022, rest assured that they will enjoy SST exemption. We will try our best to meet the deadline (by March 31, 2023) as our production capacity now is 28,000 per month,” said Perodua President and CEO Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

Checks with Perodua dealers show the average waiting period for a new Perodua is around 6 months.

 Some models like the Perodua Aruz has a shorter waiting period, around 4 to 5 months (depending on variant), but the model with the longest waiting period is the Perodua Bezza, at more than 6 months.

Other popular models like the Perodua Myvi and Perodua Axia have a waiting period of around 5 to 6 months, depending on variant.