KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) sold 240,341 vehicles in 2019, the highest annual sales figure the local automobile marque has ever recorded.

According to Perodua at its 2019 full-year review today, 2019's sales figure has beaten the company's sales target of 235,000 cars for the year, and constituted a 5.8% year-on-year jump from 2018's sales of 227,243 units.

In particular, its 2019 performance was driven by its Alza, Aruz, Bezza, Axia and Myvi.

Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad said the car manufacturer is setting a higher sales target for 2020.

"On the back of strong demand, we foresee our sales performance this year to be on par with last year's. We are setting a 2020 sales target of 240,000 units and are cautiously optimistic that it is attainable despite a more competitive market this year," he said.

He noted that 2019's total industry volume (TIV) is estimated to be 604,775 units — with Perodua occupying 40% of the Malaysian car market in that year.

Perodua is forecasting 2020 TIV to be 610,000 units and 2021 to be 618,000 units, with sports utility vehicles occupying 24% of the TIV in 2020 and 25% in 2021.

Perodua's market share increased 2 percentage points to 40% in 2019 from 2018's 38%. The company is expecting to maintain its 40% market share in 2020.

The group is also expecting to boost production by 4% to 254,000 in 2020, from 2019's 244,400 units.

When asked if Perodua was concerned by the rise in market share and demand seen by Proton Holdings Bhd, Zainal Abidin said Perodua welcomes competition and has its own internal strategies to ensure it can continue to deliver value to customers.

In line with the increase in production, Zainal Abidin said the group expects to spend RM6 billion on local components acquisitions, compared to the RM5.4 billion spent last year.

Perodua has 185 vendors with a local content ratio of 90%.

Perodua saw exports increase to 2,825 units in 2019, from 2,184 units in the prior year.

Top export destinations in 2019 include Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Brunei and Mauritius.

Zainal Abidin said the group is going to spend RM1.08 billion in 2020, compared to the RM569.2 million spent in 2019.

2020's investment would be deployed in areas such as manufacturing line improvements and general manufacturing plant improvements.

"About 20% is related to sales improvements for our service. About RM180 to RM200 million is [for] normal improvement for our plants, such as Industry 4.0 items.

"About RM500 million will be used for our factory as part our modernisation.

"RM150 million will be used for research and development. In 2020, this will be focused on our race track, the construction of which is ongoing, and we hope to complete it by the end of this year," he said.

On the issue of new excise duties for cars in Malaysia, Zainal Abidin said Perodua is still evaluating the impact of such changes.

"We have been following all the requirements by the government. At this moment, we are still evaluating the impact, and we want to minimise any impacts on customers," he said.