Perodua Agrees To Buy Back “Sugar Car”
We previously reported about a Perodua Bezza that was declared a total loss after 8 hours and detailed how Perodua had cited sugar in the engine as the cause for the failure.
The ordeal lasted for more than 2 months for the vehicle owner Nagakanni Subramaniam, with Perodua seemingly attempting to pass the blame to her instead of taking responsibility for the defect.
Here’s a quick recap. The Bezza owner picked up her car on October 17 in the morning, drove it home and left it for 8 hours.
When she tried to start the car again it stalled and had to be towed away. What follows was a series of exchanges between Nagakanni and Perodua representatives without any resolution.
The scandal came to a head on 2 January when she posted about her struggle on Facebook.
The post went viral with 19k likes and 16k shares. The post brought her case much-needed attention and Perodua was forced to release a media statement that came a mere 2 days later.
Nagakanni clarified that the statement was erroneous in its claims and that Perodua’s solution was for her to take a second car loan while Perodua buys the car back from her.
Obviously she had no reason to take Perodua’s word at this point and she demanded a black and white statement to the effect from Perodua.
A further 5 days pass and Nagakanni has shared a post confirming that Perodua has bought her car back and offered to sell a Perodua to her at a discounted price. Funny how things get solved quickly once they go viral.
She has 7 days to respond to the offer to buy another Perodua, but the decision is a hard one.
At Bezza’s price point, there aren’t many other options besides Perodua. The only other option is Proton, but they do not have a sterling reputation when it comes to reliability (neither does Perodua at this point).
Nagakanni ended the post poetically by saying:
“I’ve learned something through all of this. Even though we’re small like ants, if we work together despite colour or race, we will succeed.
“In the end, because of sugar, the ants were united.”
Read her statement in full here
