Thursday, April 18, 2013

Lowering Car Prices: Killing The Myth

Hantu Laut

Lowering car prices.

Another one of Anwar and Pakatan's hollow propaganda to fool the people.

After I posted my article "Reducing Oil Prices: Anwar On The Stump, Stumping The Idiots",  a regular commentator of this blog by pseudonym SM challenged me to not only expose our fuel prices being one of the lowest in the world and lowest in the region, but to also provide analysis and comparison of car prices with other countries in the region. 

SM, is also a diehard supporter of Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat. Like most Malaysians he thinks our car prices are highest in the world. 

Well, SM,  you are in for a big surprise, I will lay down facts and figures to show that was not the case. Our car prices are one of the lowest in the region. 

I am talking about cars for the working class, not luxury cars craved by the wealthy, which in spite of the high prices are selling very well in this country. 

The streets of Kuala Lumpur, other towns and cities are littered with posh cars of all luxury brands. A clear sign that there are more than enough people with more than enough money to buy them. 

In Malaysia, cars are still seen as status symbol, particularly, among the Chinese community, a reflection of their success in business or in their profession. Though considered expensive by Western standard these luxury cars are selling very well in Malaysia and more often than not they be owned by Chinese business people.

It is not surprising that Anwar and other PKR leaders the likes of Rafizi Ramli and Azmin Ali tried to delude the people by blaming wrong government policy for the high prices of cars, which is completely untrue,  pure fiction and propaganda to fool unthinking Malaysians.

Below is the price of  a popular Japanese model in the Asean region.

Price of Toyota Vios 1.5 c.c

Malaysia - RM71,105. = US$23,389.00

Indonesia - Rp221,950,000. = US$22,833.00

Philippine - P869,000. = US$21,003.00

Thailand - THB559,000. = US$19,302.00

Singapore - $109,988. = US$88,864.00

Looking at the prices above are we much more expensive than our neighbours?

Malaysian made cars are even cheaper than the above foreign made model. 

The cheapest in the market of a compact 4-door sedan is the Proton Saga 1.3 c.c. costing around US$11,479.00. Another popular model the Perodua MYVI is selling around US$14,456.00.

Unless, you want to bring the "one-lakh" car from India to this country which is just a basic body with an engine and four wheels, which is not likely to fit the Malaysian more sophisticated taste, the current prices for the type of cars available here are already almost floor level. 

Ask Anwar and Rafizi how much lower can they go?

You probably can reduce by another 20% by removing all standard accessories that comes with it, which means no power windows, no power steering, no CD player, no sporty wheels, no cruise control, no electronically controlled side view mirrors and many more nonessentials. 

Can you sell such basic cars in this market?

The current government policy of keeping car prices cheap for the proletariat and higher prices for luxury cars is the correct policy. It's a caring policy for the economically disadvantaged. 

Our car prices are already lowest in the region. 

Unfortunately, most Malaysians do not bother to check the facts and prefer to eat the opposition's wholesome lies, hook, line and sinker.


11 comments:

Ismail N said...

Blogger Chewal wrote a very good article on car prices in Malaysia: http://chewal.blogspot.com/2013/03/menurunkan-harga-kereta-pr-menipu-lagi.html

Anonymous said...

HL, Siamang of Malaysia is either an idiot or intellectually handicapped.

Anonymous said...

So compare with Singapore?

I do not need a car in Singapore when public transport is so good.

Do we have a choice in Malaysia? Nope. We are dependent on owning a car for daily transport to go to work, play and schools!

And yet cars in Malaysia are the highest in S.E.A. except Singapore for a Toyota Vios.

Care to compare equivalent of basic MyVi and out of date and recycled old engine proton saga in these other S.E.A. countries?

Anonymous said...

Reducing oil and car prices will only benefits mostly the rich and those who can afford to by cars. Abolish tolls too, will further benefits the rich.

The poor and destitute do not gain anything, except those who only owns a motorcycle, and how much is there to benefit, anyway. And what about those who lost the job, when toll is abolished?

How much do the government need to compensate the concessionaires?

Who will be responsible for highways maintenance?

Who are going to assist highway users during vehicle breakdown?

Does it affects the second-hand cars traders? Does used car prices reduce too?

What about those who already just bought a car? Do they need to continue servicing their loan with the old higher car purchasing price?

When the car prices is lowered, does it increase in traffic volumes?

If tolls are free, heavy lorries will infest into the highways in more numbers. Since the cost of transportation of goods become slightly lower and faster, will the prices of commodities be reduce too? Will the express bus or taxi fares be reduce too?

Since there is no tolls and to cater for the increase in traffic, do we need to widen the highways? What about jams during festive seasons? Who will be looking into this? SPAD?, JPJ? Police? the Army?

Will robbers and criminals be making their easy getaway through these highways?

....... and much more.

Don't just make promises for the polls.

RD.

zakzak said...

Rather than absolute price on the road, i think the better argument against those wanting reduction of car prices would be the ownership cost i.e. road tax, petrol (ni kerajaan malaysia bagi subsidi banyak gak, cuba tengok indonesia, mahal lagi dari malaysia), insurance, etc.

I daresay, they don't know that although car prices in other countries are 'cheaper', sometime costs like insurance really makes ownership not a really affordable options for marhaen people. Eg in the UK, insurance for new car may reach £2000 pound for sedan cars, normal one, not the luxurious bmw, merc, or audi....

All in all, car prices in malaysia may be perceived to be quite high, but the ownership cost is still bearable to most rakyat.

Anonymous said...

HL,

Thank you for writing this article.
Unfortunately no, I'm not surprised! You use Vios 1.5, Proton & Perodua as examples? Come on lahhhh...
When you do an analysis, you use ALL sides of the coin or else your Analysis is flawed. You use the Vios 1.5 which is locally assembled? Of course Toyota can bring down the Price of the car to be competitive as it does not have to deal with the ÄPs'& the Tariffs & Taxes. If they don't keep the Pricing competitive, then they will just lose out.
You do not use the Car Prices of the vast variety of cars on the Malaysian Roads. of course your sycophant BN readers will fawn upon your every word without using their limited thinking capabilities!

Take away the AP's (used to enrich the UMNO cronies), the higher Taxes & tariffs (used to protect the ailing Proton that cannot compete in the real world) & the car prices in Malaysia will drop.

How to achieve Vision 2020 when we can only afford to buy locally assembled Foreign cars (if at all) & sub-standard local cars (like Proton)? Why do you think Perodua is so successful? Malaysians hate Proton!

Next, you did not comment on the other issue I brought up the last time I commented. How can normal-minded Malaysians trust someone who spews 1-Malaysia in every sentence & then nominates someone like Zul Nordin to sit under the BN banner? Cakap tak serup bikin! Talk about liars!

Anyway, I do thank you for this article again as it does help to debate sanely & intelligently (but you must admit your sycophant BN stooges are somewhat intellectually challenged!).

Anonymous said...

Your assertion is the same as that of Topgear Malaysia magazine issue 62, October 2012 in its editorial. That if car proces are compared on eaual options to that on Malaysian market, to our ASEAN neighbours, Malaysian car bread and butter cars are still relatively cheaper.

The problem with Malaysians are that they read car magazines from UK mostly and US; not knowing whether its a bare bone cars or with options. And, they forgot that the cheapest cars on planet earth is in Gulf - even then it is confines to the likes of UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and few others. No one seems wanting to quote their prices, because perhaps no one wants to live there.

So, the Malaysians have romantic notion that if they were to live in UK or US, they would have been better not knowing that their disposable income would probably go down because of higher income taxes and higher cost of car ownership.

And, yes being educated and work in Europe and US, I do have chances of owning cars in some of these countries and know first hand the ownership cost associated. New cars can be cheap, and the second/used cars can be cheaper. So, it can be double jeorpardy.

MRSM Kalae Chepo 66/73

SM said...

HL,

Anonymous 8:12am is me....SM...sorry I forgot to add my initials...

Anonymous said...

Lol. Then why BN manifesto also want to lower car price?

Anonymous said...

No, YOU are intellectually challenged as you have completely disregarded the LEGITIMATE concerns about tolls. Who is going to maintain our highways? Who is going to respond to breakdowns? No, you only look at this politically. From your little place under a goddamn rock where "corruption" is the only election issue and the needs of the people do not need to be discussed. THATS intellectually challenged, because as EVERY FUCKING COUNTRY KNOWS, tolls are necessary in order to have some form of fiscal sustainability in the operation of highways.

Not only that I think there is a need to address where the fuck money will come from because it seems like PR promises pretty much erode government revenue. Although maybe Selangor is a good example since apparently that free water promise in 2008 "doesnt really bind" according to Khalid Ibrahim (which is fucked up, because as a Selangor resident I can say the dry spells are hardly a sign of PROGRESS, thanks a fucking lot).

Anonymous said...

Fuck you lah what are you babbling about? Car prices in Malaysia are extremely exorbitant .Thanks to the triple taxation.Then you pay more for tolls and more tolls.

Then fucking racism country gives Malays BUMIlancaupukimak a 10 % or more discount when they buy new house. Other races here have to pay more.Not fair.