President and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad said another RM250 million will be dedicated to sales network expansion. Both are part of the company’s RM1.2 billion capital expenditure for this year.

“Of course, this is based on our initial planning, not incorporating the (effects of) Covid-19, further movement control orders and so on,” he said during a question-and-answer session after an exclusive media preview and test drive of the new model, which was organised by the company.

The session was held at the Perodua headquarters here on Monday.

The D55L is Perodua’s internal codename for its five-seater compact SUV which is slated for launch on March 3.

Zainal Abidin revealed that the D55L will have nearly 95% local parts content, the highest of Perodua’s models, most of which have over 90% local content.

He also said Perodua remains the biggest buyer of automotive components in Malaysia.

The compact car maker is expected to buy a record RM6.5 billion worth of locally-sourced components in 2021, up from RM6 billion in the preceding year.

Meanwhile, Perodua’s 2021 production target represents a 23% increase over the 220,968 units manufactured in 2020.

For the new D55L, he said the expected production capacity of around 36,000 to 40,000 units per year and it could be ramped up with overtime incentives.

Zainal Abidin said the Perodua D55L is the first model under the Perodua Smart Build blueprint, spearheading breakthroughs for Perodua in style, safety, technology, equipment levels and value.