The Perodua Bezza is 7 years old today

On this day 7 years ago, Perodua launched its first ever sedan model – the Bezza. Though it used the platform of the Axia, the body design was unique as it was not adapted from any model in Daihatsu’s range.

Although Daihatsu, which is Perodua’s shareholder and technical partner, used to have sedans like the Charmant and Ascend, it has long focussed on compact hatchbacks which it has much expertise in. Thus when Perodua decided that a sedan was required, it had to design its own model.

Designed by Malaysians for Malaysians
Fortunately, by 2016, the Malaysian carmaker had already developed much of its capability in upper body design and engineering. This began with the first Myvi 10 years earlier. Since then, Perodua’s in-house capability has grown further and recent models like the new Axia have seen minimal involvement from Daihatsu.

While early Perodua models used names from the animal world (and usually started with ‘K’), the company moved away from that approach and began to create its own names. In the case of their first sedan, they used ‘beza’, which means ‘di­fferent’ in Bahasa Malaysia, which certainly summed up the significance of the new model in one word.

However, not many may know the reason why it was spelt with two ‘Z’ characters. The company explained that this gave a resemblance to ‘22’ and in 2016, Perodua had been in the market for 22 years.

Spacious interior and boot
Available with 1-litre and 1.3-litre engines and automatic and manual transmissions, the Bezza was an instant hit. Though sitting on the compact Axia platform, the sedan had fairly good interior space and could take a surprisingly large amount of luggage. As always, being designed by Malaysians has meant that the requirement of space – for those balik kampung journeys – is given more attention.

By then, Perodua’s products had already proven to be reliable and well built so many people didn’t hesitate to put their money down for one. By launch day on July 21, there were over 4,000 people waiting for the new sedan which had a starting price of RM37,000.

Low running costs and reliability
It was popular with a broad segment of buyers, especially younger ones who were getting their first car (or lucky enough to have parents get it for them). In time, its economical running costs and reliability as well as low price attracted the attention of fleet operators, especially those in the e-hailing segment.

Although Perodua doesn’t have specific numbers on how many Bezzas are being used by e-hailing operators, it is evident that it must be quite a large number from what can be seen on the roads. Chances are you would have been in one if you use Grab or a similar service.

Highest volume in 2022
Almost 352,000 units were produced up till the end of last year and the volume might have been higher if not for the disruption to production due to the pandemic and then parts shortages. But last year saw the model’s highest volume produced, accounting for almost 20% of the total since the model was launched.

This year, Perodua reports that some 40,555 units have been sold in the first 6 months, overtaking the Myvi to become the brand’s top selling model in 2023. While demand remains high for the Bezza, it is still uncertain yet if it will also end the year in top position. However, even with the new Axia launched, Perodua has confirmed that there will be no new Bezza in 2023.

Perodua Bezza outsells Myvi in first six months of 2023