KUALA LUMPUR: Perodua’s sports utility vehicle (SUV) Ativa (Portuguese for ‘active’) officially launches with a price tag from RM61,500 to RM72,000 (on-the-road before insurance in Peninsular Malaysia).
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Previously known as D55L, its official price (valid until the government’s sales tax exemption expires on June 30) is lower than the initially estimated RM62,500 to RM73,400 announced earlier.
“The Perodua Ativa’s competitive pricing was made possible by its 95 per cent localisation rate – the highest initial local content rate for any Perodua model. Even the engine and transmission are locally manufactured,” said Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad.
“We believe that a test drive is all one needs to be convinced that the Perodua Ativa is the perfect companion for the urban, active lifestyles most of us live today.”
The first model under the Perodua Smart Build blueprint is also the first from the brand be turbocharged, to use a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), and satisfy Autonomous Driving Level 2 standards.
It is as Perodua puts it, the most affordable vehicle in Malaysia to fulfil all mentioned criteria at present, and is the company’s fifth Energy-Efficient Vehicle (EEV) with a fuel efficiency of 18.9 km/l.
All variants (X, H and AV) comes with six airbags, automatic LED headlamps with Auto High Beam, plus Lane Departure Warning and Prevention.
H and AV variants get Adaptive Driving Beam, a seven-inch TFT multi-info display and a nine-inch touch-screen infotainment system with voice recognition, while the top range AV exclusively gets Lane Keep Control, Blind Spot Monitor, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Adaptive Cruise Control.
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Also debuting is the Advanced Safety Assist (ASA) 3.0 that is now standard across the Perodua range. A step up from the current ASA 2.0, it now works at higher speeds (up to 120 km/h for vehicles, up to 60 km/h for pedestrians) and can now detect two-wheeled vehicles as well as functioning at night.
Colours come in metallic Glittering Silver and Granite Grey available to all variants, with X (RM61,500) and H (RM66,100) getting an additional Cobalt Blue not available to the AV (RM71,200). There’s a special metallic Pearl Diamond White and Pearl Delima Red for the H (RM66,600) and AV (RM71,700) variants, with a special two-tone finish only for the AV (RM72,000) model. (Prices on-the-road before insurance in Peninsular Malaysia).
The Ativa’s introduction is said to be significant as it brings Perodua and Daihatsu’s collaboration to a new level and allows Perodua and its suppliers to commonise components and processes for maximum cost efficiency.
“It was developed on a global platform as both companies pooled resources to offer the most competitive model we can produce,” said Zainal, adding that the SUV is the result of the first truly ‘smart’ partnership between the two companies.
“Our involvement with the Ativa began from the drawing board – 54 of our designers and engineers worked with Daihatsu on this model since 2018. This close collaboration allowed us to include the Malaysian automotive ecosystem in the development of this model, and the suppliers rose to the challenge and were able to reduce their costs,” he added.
“This was all done without sacrificing our unique Malaysian design, features and tastes.”
Zainal added that Perodua expects to buy a total of RM6.5 billion worth of components from Malaysian suppliers this year now that the Ativa has been launched.
“We have so far received some 5,000 bookings for the Perodua Ativa since we began collecting orders on Feb 19. Deliveries will begins today and we aim to deliver an average of 3,000 units a month,” he added.- NST