PERODUA PURSUING LESS EXPENSIVE GREEN TECHNOLOGIES UNDER ROADMAP

By Choong En Han

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 (Bernama) -- Perodua, the country's top car seller, will
pursue cheaper green technologies with its technological partner Daihatsu to
produce affordable plus environmental-friendly compact cars and stay ahead of
its competitors.

Managing Director Aminar Rashid Salleh told Bernama that to this end, Perodua
was pursuing the metal-free liquid feed cell technology as the current green
technologies were too expensive not only to the manufacturer but also to
consumers.

Under its five-year green roadmap, it will use the new precious metal-free
liquid feed fuel cell (PMfLFC) technology as a leverage to produce cars
affordable to the public.

"Even now, it is only the Japanese car makers who are able to bring in their
Hybrid cars into the country and that too with strong support from the
government," he told Bernama recently.

He added, even if the excise duty of 100 per cent was exempted on hybrid cars
currently, it would still not reach the masses because of the costs.

"Many carmakers are rushing into the Hybrid and electrical vehicle (EV) scene,
but as an affordable compact car maker, it doesn't make sense to invest in these
technologies.

"Although PMfLFC is still in its preliminary stages of research, this is the
technology of the future and in that aspect, we will eventually bypass any
technological developments on the Hybrid and electric vehicle (EV) drivetrains,"
he said.

The new PMfLFC technology, which is part of Perodua's five-year roadmap will
eventually give the carmaker an edge, bypassing any development on the Hybrid
and electric vehicle (EV) technologies.

"In the meantime, we will refocus on improving our internal combustion engine to
be as good as those trending new green technologies," he said.

Currently, the company is pushing for more improvements for its internal
combustion engine by replacing its cast iron engine parts to full aluminum
components in the first stage of its roadmap.

"Although we are still on internal combustion engines and with the effort that
we have put in these engines will be on the same footing with Hybrid and EV
technologies.

"The first stage is in the works right now, and the development would hit the
market anytime in the next two to three years," he said.

Consumers would be eager to know that a two-cylinder direct injection
turbo-charged engine is also in the pipeline under the second stage of Perodua's
roadmap slated for engine development.

"The car will have more power by then with the extra boost and we strongly
believe that with the turbo charged engines, we can improve fuel efficiency and
cut down on carbon emissions, both by 30 per cent," he said.

Elaborating on the Electronic Automatic Transmission (E-AT) system slated for
production soon, he added it has reached the final stages of production study.

"We need to set up a completely different plant for the E-AT systems, and I'm
sure investments of more than RM150 million will be made and production will
start within two to three years.

"We are currently going into the details like the plant layout and selecting the
vendors that can help us put some of the components together," he said.

He added investments made could be considered as domestic direct investments
(DDI), answering the government's call for the private sector to invest more.

"This is the kind of technology transfer we desire from Daihatsu and they will
help us train our local engineers, operators and vendors to be compliant.

"E-AT is a high-technology dust free extremely sensitive system and quality is
of the paramount criteria this time," he said.

With the move to reduce its carbon footprint and improve fuel efficiency, Aminar
is calling on the government to recognise the carmaker's efforts and extend
incentives for hybrid vehicles and EV to Perodua too.

Besides, he added the company would continue to improve the plant's
manufacturing facilities as well.

Touching on the widely discussed Proton-Perodua merger, he said the company does
not know the outcome and recommendations of the study.

"Let's wait for the announcement but we will proceed with our roadmap and
address the issues as well as weaknesses we have currently.

"Allow us, together with Daihatsu, to continue on this exciting journey that we
have. It will require some time to execute but this is the future as we see it,"
he said.
-- BERNAMA