New Perodua Myvi

Perodua’s new MD Aminar Rashid Salleh unveiled to Utusan Malaysia that we can expect a new Perodua Myvi somewhere around April 2011, with a Myvi SE to be launched a couple of months later around June 2011. He also revealed that a new 1.5 liter variant of the Myvi is in the works. This makes sense since they are already making the transverse-install front wheel drive 1.5 liter 3SZ-VE engine for the Alza, why not put it in the Myvi?

Apparently the new Myvi will have a new look. It’s actually about time for the Myvi to be refreshed, so Perodua is pretty much on schedule for a typical 5 year lifecycle with a facelift in the middle. The Myvi was launched in May 2005 and after 5 years, time for a replacement in the first half of 2011. If you remember, in mid-February we saw the Myvi’s Japanese cousin refreshed with a new look. Frankly, I don’t expect the Myvi to look 100% like that model as with each new rebadge product, Perodua has been moving away further and further from the JDM model’s exterior and interior.

I feel Toyota/Daihatsu has been slowly moving their JDM models to target specific niche markets with very tailor-made products. They have so many little cars based on the same platform over there in Japan, and from the marketing material of the new Passo/Boon, it’s quite obvious that the car is now targeted towards young ladies. In Malaysia, the Myvi is a unisex mass market car, so I’m expecting both exterior and interior styling to differ significantly in the details, while generally keeping the same shape.