The facelifted Perodua Axia has been spotted undisguised in all its glory, ahead of its launch at a dealership in Kuala Lumpur. Our friends from Autofreaks.com caught the Perodua entry-level model, likely to be a future demo vehicle, judging by the sticker graphics and were able to grab photos of the exterior and interior of the upcoming car.
Up front, the redesigned front end reveals a sharper, Honda Jazz like face, with projector headlamps and grille forming a V-shaped appearance, seen here in the SE and Advance variants. The gaping grille is now split into two sections with the lower half of the bumper flanked by fog lamp enclosures with carbon fibre look inserts and a chrome strip.
Along the sides, a new door handle design, which features a button for the keyless entry is finished in chrome. Round the back, the most noticeable difference is the boot lock handle, seen here with the smart entry button range-topping Advance, cheaper variants receive the boot handle alone.
The wheels have been lifted straight off the Perodua Bezza sedan – featuring a two-tone finish in the Advance variant.
On the inside, Perodua have also fitted a Push Start button, on a panel to the right of the steering wheel, next to a button to disarm the front proximity sensors – also a new addition. The meter cluster is reportedly new (with white illumination), as is the updated infotainment head unit, replete with Perodua’s (Android only) Smart Link connectivity functions.
The leather steering wheel stitching in the Advance model also receives white stitching now, previously red.
The biggest change comes from under the hood, with the facelifted Axia now utilising the 1.0-litre 1KR-VE three-cylinder engine with variable valve timing (VVT-i), shared with the Bezza sedan. Perodua claim the fuel economy is now further improved to 22.5km/l, up from 21.6km/l.
Having announced that the facelifted Perodua Axia order books are officially open – it’s no surprise, dealers are doing very little to conceal the car ahead of its launch.
As revealed earlier, prices have gone up across the range, which starts off at RM24,900 for the 1.0L Standard E manual to RM42,900 for the Advance (auto). The most substantial increments are for the 1.0L Standard G manual and automatic models which carry premiums of RM4,700 and RM3,700 respectively.
Keyword: 2017 Perodua Axia Facelift – Spotted Ahead Of Official Debut