Perodua Nautica-Malaysia Car

Perodua has officially unveiled the name of the new Perodua SUV the Perodua Nautica 4WD. Shown above is Theophilus Chin’s artist impression of the little SUV which is based on the short wheelbase Daihatsu Terios. The long wheelbase version is also on sale in our local market in the form of the Toyota Rush.

The new Perodua Nautica 4WD will be a CBU import from Japan with Perodua badging and styling, though since the car will be a low volume unit there should not be any major changes with the design other than a minor grille change, as it would not be cost effective to do any major restyling with so little units expected to be sold.

Bookings are open from May 10th 2008 onwards. Also released are some official minor specs on the car - a 1.5 liter DVVT engine (likely the 3SZ-VE in the Avanza and Rush) and a 4WD drivetrain, unlike the Toyota Rush’s 2WD drivetrain. It comes in automatic transmission only and has two colour variant - Medallion Grey or Majestic Black.

Perodua will definitely get some flack for bringing in a fully imported CBU unit instead of doing the normal “national car manufacturer” thing and making it here. At the end of the day making a car has been degraded to mere routine assembly of CKD kits anyway