Perodua today launched 2 new variants – the New Myvi SE and Extreme variants that is powered by the 1.5L engine from the ALZA in order to further boost sales of its flagship Myvi model.
Proced between RM50,900 and RM61,700, depending on specifications, the New Perodua Myvi SE and Extreme models are now an interesting combination of style, comfort and power; which is expected to be well received by the Malaysian public.
“For our latest offering, we expect sales of these new variants to contribute about 45% to the 8,000 overall New Myvi models sales,” Perodua Director Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said at the launch here today.
According to Datuk Aminar, the previous Myvi SE contributed to some 30% of the total Myvi sales.
He added that the New Myvi 1.3L variants had also been doing well with bookings at 34,000 units and delivery of 18,000 units as of 8th September 2011.
“Coupled with the lanch of these new variants, we are confident of reaching our 2011 sales target of 190,000 units. over and beyond this, we also epect the sales momentum of both 1.3L and 1.5L New Myvi variants to carry us forward into 2012,” he said.
“In addition, Perodua will also start exporting the New Myvi 1.3 to Mauritius and Sri Lanka by this October and November respectively,” he said. About 10-20 units will be supplied to these locations in order to test the receptiveness of both markets and will act as a trial-run.
The New Myvi SE and Extreme models are available in both manual and automatic transmissions. The Special Edition comes available in five colours; Solid Majestic Yellow, Solid Ivory White, Metallic Mystical Purple, Metallic Purple, Metallic Ebony Black and metallic Glittering Silver.
However, the New Myvi Extreme will only be available in 3 of the 5 colours mentioned above; Solid Majestic Yellow, Solid Ivory White and Metallic Ebony Black.
As for performance, the 1.5L DOHC, 16V DVVT engine is of course the main star of these variants. This engine delivers a maximum power output of 102bhp at 6,000rpm and a maximum torque of 136Nm at 4,400rpm.
The manual variant is capable of accelerating from 0-100kmh in just a tickle under 10 seconds in comparison to the 1.3L manual of 12.5 seconds.
Another benefit of the 1.5L engine is of course a quicker response timing, smoother acceleration that’s filled with plenty of torque and horsepower for a truly fun ride. A more powerful engine also means it would be able to deliver better engine performance with reduced mechanical friction.
With Both variants are quipped with Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) as well as bother driver and passenger air-bags.
After having a go in the new Myvi 1.5, the only thing we can indicate to you is that it simply just hits the spot in terms of power delivery, especially the manual transmission. We thought the new 1.3L Mvi was fun, the 1.5L variant will make a smile on your face that’ll be hard to wipe off for a very long time.
After having admired how much the front grill of the new Myvi 1.5 resembles that of the current R35 Nissan GTR, having a feel of the leather clad steering wheel entails nothing short of a nice welcome feeling. The main difference was that Perodua has finally managed to incorporate a set of steering-wheel controls making it even more convenient and not to mention safer for you to adjust your in car entertainment’s volume.
Handling is tuned for understeer, as usual, and gear shifts were relatively smooth with power delivery smooth all the way till red-line, but if you’re into quiet drives, that’s where you’d want your engine to stay away from.
Although, it feels every bit planted as the 1.3L Myvi that we recently tested, you may need to keep a close look out for rough roads. An initial feel of the suspension was that it could be quite harsh when faced with rough roads.
We admit that when we we heard about the 1.5L variant about to break cover, there was a certain expectation that its pricing could have been somewhere between the RM60-70,000 range, but with it only having breached the RM60,000 mark, we pretty sure that this new Myvi 1.5 could become the main bread-winner within Perodua’s stable.
