Perodua D46T MPV 2009 (Perodua Alza)

Perodua Alza launch in November 2009

Reader waja2000 was kind enough to record the teaser video for us, and the good news for us eager followers of the MPV’s development is that the Perodua MPV is shown clearly in its undisguised form in the video, from pretty much every angle! The video also revealed that the MPV will be launched in November 2009.
The front end features a new grille that very much reminds me of the one found on the Perodua Nautica. Perodua has also changed the shape of the headlamps. The Passo Sette and Boon Luminas versions sold in Japan feature headlamps that have a straight bottom design but Perodua’s cuts upwards towards the outer edge of the car.

The bumper features a wide central air intake flanked by two large round foglamps. In a way, Perodua’s design has all the design cues to look relatively more sporty than the more conservative standard Toyota bodykit in comparison, but there are some optional bodykits on the Japanese versions that look way more aggressive than Perodua’s take on the Passo Sette.

The teaser video even lets us have a glimpse of the alloy wheel design. It is very likely that the alloy wheels will not be featured across the range as the norm is for Perodua to put steel wheels on the baseline models, and there will likely be a baseline model given the price sensitive buying behaviour of alot of Perodua buyers.
There are not much changes on the rear end. With one past rebadged model, Toyota and Daihatsu put the Passo’s number plate on the rear bumper with a flat rear hatch, and Perodua modified this to have the bumper on the rear hatch instead. But with the Passo Sette, the number plate was already on the rear hatch and this was probably in line with Perodua’s already established rear end look and feel so Perodua left it untouched. The rear bumper is missing the round or square reflectors that some of the Japanese models have.

I am not 100% sure but it looks like the Perodua MPV has LED tail lamps in this particular screen capture. Could just be an illusion or distortion though.
It looks like Perodua is not holding everything back with secrecy when it comes to their new 7-seater MPV. First it displayed the Perodua MPV interior, and now the exterior. It knows it will be sharing the market with Proton and is trying to draw buyers away from the Exora, or at least get them to wait until their model comes out and then make a decision. The Perodua is a smaller vehicle of course, likely to be powered by a 1.5 liter DVVT engine with front wheel drive.

Proton will likely be countering this with the 5-speed manual Proton Exora, which would bring the baseline price point down a little. I think other than competing with the Exora, the Perodua MPV might actually also steal some thunder from the Proton Persona because it will be an affordable Perodua (since the Nautica is relatively unaffordable) with decent boot space when you fold the small third row seats down and turn it into a 5-seater with a large boot instead of a 7-seater. The third row doesn’t look too welcoming for full sized adults. Perodua previously only had the Myvi and Viva, which cannot compete with a full blown sedan in terms of luggage area.