Perodua plans to introduce an aluminum engine in its next model to be launched in the third quarter of next year.

President and chief executive officer Aminar Rashid Salleh said the engine would be produced at the RM1.3 billion plant expected to be completed in the third quarter of next year.

“We are going to change our engine from cast iron to aluminum to further improve the internal combustion engine,” he told reporters after presenting prizes to winners of the ‘Revive Your Drive Contest’ in Petaling Jaya today.

Aminar Rashid said apart from giving better fuel consumption, the transition to an aluminium engine would also help reduce manufacturing cost, in line with the company’s target to reduce cost between 20 percent and 30 percent by 2015.

“For us to be competitive, we target to cut down cost between 20 and 30 percent and changing the engine is one of the components (to reduce cost),” he said.

On sales, Aminar Rashid said the company sold almost 130,000 cars from January to August, up 3.5 percent, from the same period last year, mainly contributed by Midi multi-purpose vehicle sales.

“We managed to sell 8,000-9,000 units of Midi a month. The demand for Midi continued to be strong,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the ‘Revive Your Drive Contest’, 24 winners were chosen from 15,000 entries as part of the compact car company’s 20th anniversary celebration.

- Bernama