News & Events

Melaka, 15 July: Politeknik Ungku Omar (PUO) has proven their mettle yet again when they won the coveted overall champion for the Perodua Eco-Challenge 2012.

Since 2009, participants from the higher institute of higher learning chosen for the Perodua Eco-Challenge are required to build their own most fuel efficient car to compete in terms of engineering & design as well as in a long distance endurance race.

This year, Perodua has added 2 new categories which include a dynamic test called “Time Attack” and a marketing category whereby the students must “sell” their product by way of marketing events and a product presentation to a panel of judges which consist of veterans in the field of media and marketing.

“The Perodua Eco-Challenge is one of Perodua’s biggest Corporate Responsibility programme which aims to bridge the gap between academia and real work life exposure to students of higher learning,” Perodua Managing Director, Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said.

Competing against 13 other institutions of higher learning, PUO was able to score the most points in all four categories – Engineering & Design; Longest Distance and 2 new additional categories, Marketing as well as Time Attack.

PUO was also the winner of the coveted “Longest Distance” category last year with 24.07KM with a half-litre Petronas RON 95 petrol. The Polytechnic also won the “Manual Transmission Long Distance” category of the Perodua Eco-Challenge in 2009 with 23KM with 1 litre of Petronas RON 95 Petrol.

The winner of the longest distance category this year is Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) which managed to travel a total of 21.88KM on 0.5 litre of Petronas RON 95 petrol, followed by PUO by 18.77KM, while Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) was second runner up with 15.80KM.

PUO also won the Engineering & Design category followed by Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), while Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) was second runner up.

For the Marketing challenge, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) was the champion, followed by Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) as first runner-up and UNISEL was second runner up.

The Time Attack Challenge was won by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) with second and third runners-up are UNISEL and Politeknik Port Dickson (POLIPD) respectively.

Other Participants include Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia Spanish Institute, Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah, Universiti Teknologi Petronas and Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.

The incumbent teams have to improve on their race vehicle built using a ViVA 660cc engine and transmission given last year.

This year, Perodua provided RM10,000 to each team to modify and improve on their existing race vehicle and RM5,000 for marketing challenge.

The total prize money for this year’s race has been increased to RM103,000 from RM77,000 last year to cater for the 3 new categories.

For the overall category, the champion will take home RM25,000. The winners of the 2 categories - Design & Engineering as well as Longest Distance - will drive away with RM10,000 each, first runner up RM8,000 each and second runner-up RM5,000 each.

For Time Attack category winner, the winner will receive RM7,000, first runner up RM5,000 and second runner up RM3,000. Teams placed 4th and 5th in the longest distance category will receive RM1,000 each.

The winner in the marketing challenge category will receive RM7,000, 1st runner up RM5,000 and 2nd runner up RM3,000.