Next Perodua Bezza will take inspiration from Asian Sedan Design Challenge winners; a few years away

We’ve just attended the finale and winner announcement ceremony of the Asian Compact Sedan Design Challenge 2023 (ACSDC), co-organised by Perodua and the Malaysia Design Council. Asian Compact Sedan, Perodua, are you thinking Bezza? Yes, the next-generation Bezza was mentioned by Perodua VP Datuk Ahmad Suhaimi Hashim in his opening speech.

“As some of you here may remember, we announced the launch of the ACSDC 2023 on July 4, and during the event, we said that we would consider the design as inspiration for our future model. It would be an easy guess on what that model would be as we only have one sedan under our stable of vehicles,” he said.

That’s the Bezza all right. “It is true that we are looking for a full model change of our Bezza in the future and this design competition is part of the product development process as we consider various ideas to integrate into a full model change. However, this product development process is still on the ‘drawing board’ stage and would not materialise any time soon,” Ahmad Suhaimi added, bringing out the proverbial bottle of cold water.

This is possibly the first time that Perodua has explicitly mentioned the new Bezza, and it comes as a surprise as the market leader is typically tight-lipped when it comes to upcoming models, unless the introduction is just around the corner.

“I understand that for most of the media members here today, this announcement is unusual as we typically keep our future plans to ourselves until the very last moment. This change in tactics is because our designers are keen on hearing your feedback on what is on display today, and of course your kind coverage of this competition and the finalists as well,” Ahmad Suhaimi explained.

With that said, let’s look at the contest and the entries. The inaugural ACSDC drew 93 entries from seven countries including Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Iran and India. There were two categories – Student and Professional. Perodua’s chief designer Muhamad Zamuren Musa led the panel of judges.

For the professional category, Kenny Chan from Malaysia was named champion. “The design proportion show dynamic with a fastback silhouette, strong and stable body character makes the car well-balanced. The significant of details and other creative elements of style make the car among the best of all participants,” Zamuren said of the ‘Payung’ concept car.

Philip Samuel Tandio from Indonesia was the first runner up with his ‘Out Ride’ concept, while Muhammad Izhar Che Shukarno’s ‘Fastback’ was named second runner up. In the student category, Bryan Teh Yea Quan from Malaysia’s Asia Pacific University was crowned champion ahead of Alfred Han Wen Hao from Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Muhammad Amin Othman from Universiti Teknologi Mara.

While the name of the contest says ‘Compact Sedan’, many of the finalists came up with what appeared to be large sedans, and some were even coupes! While Zamuren agreed that the entries could have been more realistic, he liked some of the design ideas applied by the participants, such as the profile surfacing on Chan’s winning entry. By the way, P2 owns the rights to all the designs submitted.

The challenge, as always, would be to incorporate as much design into the production car as possible, without affecting cost. That’s one constraint faced by Perodua, as it’s a maker of affordable cars and costs – especially for intangible things like design – have to be kept low to accommodate features that can be used and felt.

Another big hurdle would be the format of the compact sedan – to look good, a sedan needs length and good proportions, but that’s not a luxury that compact sedan designers have. Based on small hatchback underpinnings, they have to incorporate height (these are practical tools, good space is a must) and a boot. A car like the Bezza could well be the most difficult to design.

Ahmad Suhaimi said that while a sedan is seen as a practical mode of transport in Malaysia, the bodystyle a status symbol elsewhere in Asia (I can think of the compact hatchback in India or the MPV in Indonesia). “We want to bridge that gap as much as possible, equip this new car with the latest safety and connectivity features as well as within a price range that is typical of our products. This process will take a few years, but it is in the works,” he said.

A few years? The original Bezza surfaced in 2016, two years after the first Axia, and the all-new DNGA Axia was launched earlier this year, so it could be two, three more years before we see a new Bezza? Anyway, the Bezza is well on track to be Perodua’s best selling model in 2023, and P2’s No.1 is always Malaysia’s best-selling car, so it’s far from broke.

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