Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) is looking to export its latest energy efficient vehicle (EEV) Perodua Axia by third or fourth quarter this year, as it has stopped exporting Perodua Viva.

"We are looking at exporting Axia to countries that we had previously exported Perodua Viva. For example, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Brunei. But we have not finalised (the countries) yet," its president and CEO Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh told reporters after announcing the group's first half of 2015 (1H15) performance last Friday.

"Right now we are finalizing our plans and we are still negotiating on the pricing," he added, noting the group needs to fulfill the strong domestic demand on Perodua Axia, before exporting it to other countries.

From January to June 2015, Aminar said 53,700 units of Perodua Axia have been sold, representing almost 50% of its total sales within the first six months.

He said its vehicle sales for the 1H15, grew almost 15% to 108,500 units from 94,500 units in 2014, mainly due to the strong demand of Perodua Axia.

Aminar noted that it has received 134,000 orders since Perodua Axia was open for booking in August 2014 and has delivered 83,700 units since it was launched in September 2014 until July 9, 2015.

However, he said Perodua's vehicle sales reduced by 10% to 51,300 in the second quarter of 2015, from 57,200 units in the first quarter, mainly due to consumer's sentiment on the Goods & Services Tax (GST).

"The sales reduction in the second quarter of this year was mainly due to the consumer's reaction towards the GST introduced on April 1 and we foresee that the demand for vehicles to be soft in the second half of the year," Aminar said.

However, notwithstanding the sales reduction, he said Perodua is cautiously optimistic that it will achieve its 208,000 units sales target by year-end, on the back of Perodua Axia strong demand, as well as other sales activities it has planned for the next six months.

"We are still on track as far as sales is concern. We believe by the fourth quarter we will be able to catch up (our sales target)," he said.

Meanwhile, on its after-sales business, Aminar said that service revenue has increased by 7.6% in the 1H15, to RM292.6 million, against RM271.8 million in 2014.

"We see great potential in after-sales, particularly in growing our revenue moving forward. We will be aggressively improving our level of service as well as looking at optimizing our reach to serve our customers better," he added, noting the after-sales business contributes 10% to its total revenue and represents 40% of its gross profit.

The after-sales business consists of service, parts and accessories, as well as body and paint.

The Sun Daily