KUALA LUMPUR (May 22): Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) expects its temporary move to absorb the 6% goods and services tax (GST) to have an impact on the car maker's bottom line.

"Our bottom line will be affected, but that is okay. We respect the wish of the government of the day (to remove the GST). Perodua will continue to align itself with its stated objective of producing affordable cars that are equipped with high technology," its president and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Aminar Rashid Salleh told reporters at the company's Iftar Ramadan this evening.

On May 18, Perodua announced that it will fully reimburse the GST to customers who purchase a new Perodua vehicle, service their Perodua vehicle or buy parts between May 18 and 31, ahead of the zero-rated GST implementation on June 1.

Aminar is expecting increased car sales over the next one to two months as customers rush to take advantage of the attractive discounts offered by car companies before the sales and services tax (SST) kicks in.

Nevertheless, Perodua is keeping its sales target of 208,000 units for this year.

"Before this, as you know, we launched the new Myvi model and the demand is strong. We are working overtime to meet that demand. Now, with the current situation, there is a possibility that before the SST is implemented, the demand could spike," said Aminar.

"Looking at our current stock, and after discussing with our production team, we will work hard to meet the demand, which we think could see an uptick in the immediate term," he added.

From January to April, Aminar said Perodua recorded sales of 75,500 units, up 17% compared with the same period last year, pushing its market share to 41.6% year-to-date.

"In the month of April alone, our market share stood at 43%. This is the highest in the history of Perodua," Aminar said. "I am hoping that Perodua will continue to maintain its sales momentum and leading market position."

Going forward, Aminar said Perodua will have to tweak its back-end system and adjust it to the pre-GST era, the latter of which was implemented on April 1, 2015.