Perodua Eco-Challenge 2010 To Be Held On 26 June

Twelve local institutions of higher learning will test their engineering prowess at the Perodua Eco-Challenge 2010 to be held at the Melaka International Motorsports Circuit (MIMC), Ayer Keroh, Melaka on 26 June, 2010.

The 12 teams will race in their modified Perodua ViVa 1,000cc automatic or manual transmission with 1 litre of Petronas Primax 95 petrol.

“The objective of the race is to challenge the institutions’ engineering prowess and innovation. We are highly supportive of the Ministry of Higher Education’s (MOHE) move in producing more creative and innovative local graduates,” Perodua managing director En Aminar Rashid Salleh said.

“The Perodua Eco-Challenge is also part of Perodua’s corporate responsibility programme and we also want to highlight the benefits of fuel saving technologies,” he said.

“We invited 27 institutions of higher learning which offer automotive engineering course or have automotive programme. The 12 were chosen based on “innovativeness” of modification ideas and their relevance to fuel saving,” En Aminar said.

The participating institutions are Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Tekonologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten) and Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP).

The others are Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel), Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute (UniKL MFI), Politeknik Ungku Omar (PUO), Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah (PSAS) and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

The winners will be decided by the longest distance their modified car travelled with the 1 litre of fuel. In the second category, points will be awarded based on the extent of modification done, design and students participation.

On another note, En Aminar said Perodua maintained its market leadership in May 2010 with sales of 15,000 units of cars and an estimated market share of 29.6% on the back of the continued strong demand for vehicles.

“The 15,000 units sold were13.6% higher than the 13,200 units achieved in May 2009,” he said.

Year-to-date, Perodua sold 78,700 units of cars which was 5.64% more than the 74,500 units forecast for the 5 months this year. This was also a 23.16% jump over the 63,900 units sold during January-May 2009.

Perodua forecast to sell 176,000 units of cars for 2010, up from the 166,700 units recorded last year.

“We are very encouraged by our sales numbers and we believe that the run up to the second half would be better in view of the anticipated demand during Hari Raya Aidil Fitril and Deepavali,” En Aminar said.

Car sales in Malaysia have traditionally picked up in the third quarter, he pointed out.

Reviewing Perodua after sales performance, En Aminar said May saw 137,000 service intake compared with the forecast of 130,000 intake. For the first 5 months 2010, total intake amounted to 681,000 or 46% market share compared with 666,000 intake achieved during January-May 2009.