The Perodua Axia hatchback was snapped in Mumbai while taking rounds. This small budget Malaysian car was not camouflaged, but was travelling with testing equipment.
Produced at Perodua's second manufacturing facility near Rawang, the Axia is sold in the Malaysian market. The small car is powered by a 1.0-litre three-cylinder all-aluminium petrol engine, which comes paired either to a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission. This mill churns out 65.71bhp of power and 90Nm of torque.
However, it should be noted that the Perodua Axia is essentially a rebadged Daihatsu Ayla which is available in Indonesia. The image of the Ayla is added for reference. Also, recent reports have revealed that Toyota has been planning to introduce Daihatsu cars in India since a long time. Their plan is to start selling Daihatsu models under the Toyota brand name initially. Eventually, Toyota will launch Daihatsu vehicles in the entry-level budget oriented segment of the Indian car market.
So coming back to the Daihatsu Ayla-based hatchback, the carmaker might be testing components of the Axia, which are shared with the Ayla. These tests might form the base for a concrete plan of bringing up a product in India within a span of few years. Well, it is too early to make such predictions, but if this is the plan, the small car does have a lot of competition in the small car segment in India.
