KUALA LUMPUR (April 1): Perodua sold an estimated 57,911 vehicles in the first quarter of 2021 (1Q21), a 29% increase from the 44,977 units sold in the same period last year, thanks to higher production as the carmaker sought to meet demand for all its models, in particularly the newly-launched Perodua Ativa.

Month-on-month, vehicle registrations jumped 47.3% to 24,433 units in March, compared with 16,583 in February, the group said in a statement today.

“March saw a jump in our sales numbers to an estimated 24,433 units, underpinned by strong demand, particularly for the Ativa, which had collected 14,574 bookings since we began order-taking on Feb 19,” said Perodua president and chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

Zainal Abidin added that of the 14,574 Ativa bookings garnered so far, 4,345 units had been delivered since the new model’s launch on March 3, and that demand for the Ativa is currently skewed 67% towards the range-topping AV, which is within projections.

“This makes the Perodua Ativa the bestselling compact SUV (sport utility vehicle) in the country in the month of March. We are glad that the Perodua Ativa has gotten off to such a strong start, and that we well surpassed our 3,000-unit monthly delivery target in the first month," said Zainal Abidin.

In terms of production, Perodua manufactured 60,383 vehicles in 1Q21, a 23% boost over the 49,280 units produced a year ago.

“For now, our biggest challenge is the semiconductor chip shortage, which is having varying impact on carmakers on a global scale. We are working with our partners to find alternative supply while at the same time monitoring the situation on a daily basis to ensure continued operations of our production lines,” said Zainal Abidin.

Despite the semiconductor issue, he said Perodua will still be able to meet its initial 2021 sales target of 240,000 units.

The sales target represents a 9% increase from the 220,163 units sold in 2020,  and is expected to lead to a record purchase of RM6.5 billion worth of locally-sourced components this year.

Perodua is also targeting a production of 272,000 units, a 23% increase from 220,968 units last year, as well as 2.4 million service intakes this year, a 20% increase from two million service intakes previously.