About Perodua
Perodua, acronym of Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Berhad (in English, Second Automobile Manufacturer Limited Corporation) is Malaysia's second automobile manufacturer after Proton. It was established in 1993 and launched their first car, the Perodua Kancil in late 1994.
Perodua mainly produces small-compact cars and therefore does not actually compete with Proton for the same market niche. In the United Kingdom their cars are sold by Proton dealers who wish to attract customers seeking a smaller and cheaper alternative to the Proton range. Besides the UK and Singapore, Perodua also exports their cars to Mauritius, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, Malta, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Fiji in small numbers by local dealers.
Perodua does not actually produce any in house designs or engineering for the main components (i.e engine, transmission). All Perodua cars are badge engineered from Daihatsu. Daihatsu owns a majority stake in Perodua and in turn is itself now a subsidiary of Toyota Corp. In 2004, the Toyota Avanza started being assembled by Perodua in their factory in Rawang for the Malaysian market.
The Perodua Logo
Perodua organised a logo competition in 1997 to find a new corporate logo, to be launched together with their upcoming model, tentatively known as the X555. The competition was won by Johnson Ng Weng Kuan, an architecture student from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Perodua officially launched the new corporate logo on 24 August 1998 when they launched Malaysia's first 4x4 vehicle, the Perodua Kembara.
