Perodua has filed for the trademark 'Axis' with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) in February this year, under class 12 and class 37, which is generally car-related. Could Perodua Axia the name to be used for Perodua's next car?
Our 'second national car company' has been pretty busy lately. It will be opening its new Perodua Global Manufacturing plant in the middle of this year. The plant will mirror Daihatsu Kyushu's best practices, technology and low defect rate - check out our story on our visit to Daihatsu's Nakatsu Plant 2 last year.
Artist's impressions of an Ayla-based new Perodua by Theophilus Chin
The new plant will be producing Perodua's next model, which so far has only been referred to as "Global EEV" by Perodua's tight-lipped management. According to Perodua president and CEO Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh, the new car will be offered at a competitive price and will have EEV-compliant fuel-efficiency.
"The fuel efficiency is much much better than the current models we have," said Datuk Aminar, adding that the car will be compact but very spacious and cantik dan menarik, which is Malay for pretty and attractive.
The car's upper body design will be an in-house design by Perodua, while using a Daihatsu platform. The Daihatsu platform that makes the most sense to be used for this car would be the Daihatsu Ayla's. We've already seen the Daihatsu Ayla running around Malaysian roads without badges on trade plates.
Perodua adds that the new model is not a replacement for the Viva but is a new model. That explains the different name. We think the new Perodua will most likely be positioned below the Myvi, fitting in between it and the aging Perodua Viva. We think the Viva will soldier on as a low cost model, just like how the Kancil wasn't immediately discontinued when the Viva was launched in 2007.
Thanks to reader Ooi for the tip!
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