My Comment's on the PM's blog.

[anxious]

Here is my post on the PM's 1Malaysia Blog on Malaysian Budget Ideas:- "Dato'The prices of cars in Malaysia as opposed to our income is just mind boggling. I am a auto enthusiast but have been forced to drive second hand cars as like many Malaysians I just cannot come to terms to pay such unrealistic prices on cars.In 1986 a Toyota Corrolla or Honda Civic only cost RM25000-RM28000. In the early 1990s the prices rose to RM50000. By mid 1990s it was about RM80000 and by 2000 it had breached RM100000.A 1.8 sedan now cost RM110000.A similar car in Thailand is RM20000-250000 cheaper in Thailand.The increase of car prices in Malaysia over the past 25 years was caused mainly by the protectionist policy the goverment had towards the local automotive industry. But surely after 25 years it is time to dismantle such policies and let the rakyat enjoy their hard earned income. Can you imagine the impact to our economy if prices of cars were to come down .Havent we sacrifised enough for one man's dream. The government also stands to gain more income via various taxes should the sales of cars in Malaysia go up. The goverment shouldn't only be thinking on taxes it is going to lose via reduction of such tariffs. In any event the goverment should probably spread out the tax burden and not merely penalise car buyers.I have been following the budget closely every year for the last 7-8 years hoping that taxes on cars would be reduced pursuant to AFTA but every year I like many Malaysians was dissapointed. I hope that this year we see some reduction in car prices so the middle class also can have something to cheer come October 23. In fact you may even win yourself some much needed votes in the process.Towards a 1Malaysia........for auto enthusiast too!"

 

[astroboy]

A nicely put article which can be summarizes as:

"Stop protecting our national car industry and let the market float. If they can't compete, so be it, let them sink and bring all the supporting industries down for all we care!"

 

[jarance]

It will filed under "NFA" folder or "Spam" folder.

Nice try though..

 

[initialM]

Should comment 3 words only.

F. T. G.

 

[enkil]

Fair comment. Its been long overdue. Dont think anything will change though. Sad...

 

[mizhan]

meanwhile, i'll merely content myself with buying E30s & E34s, one after another. i could easily afford an E46 M3 in many countries

 

[seech]

Here is my post on the PM's 1Malaysia Blog on Malaysian Budget Ideas:-

In fact you may even win yourself some much needed votes in the process.[/I]

Not so sure about that. First say the price of RON 95 cheaper to save the rakyat money as RON 97 is a 'luxury' product. When RON 95 came out, price same as 'luxury' fuel......:top:

 

[JCKL]

The letter is also posted in the reader's column in The Star today.

 

[astroboy]

Car ownership per capita is certainly not an issue here , now is a matter of "quality", :wink:

2007 Number of Motor Vehicle per capita: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita
Malaysia ranked 23 at 273 cars / 1000 people

2009 Number of Motor Vehicle per capita: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tra_mot_veh-transportation-motor-vehicles
Malaysia ranked 3 at 641 cars / 1000 people

 

[safrul]

Not so sure about that. First say the price of RON 95 cheaper to save the rakyat money as RON 97 is a 'luxury' product. When RON 95 came out, price same as 'luxury' fuel......:top:

The thing about RON95, they thought that when introduce RON95, luxury car like BMW and Mercedes cannot use this oil because these car need higher grade oil. They want to target the owner of this luxury brand and give less subsidy.

However they forgot that our cars have knocking sensors and the car can accept as low as RON91.

 

[saat]

Car ownership per capita is certainly not an issue here , now is a matter of "quality", :wink:

2007 Number of Motor Vehicle per capita: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita
Malaysia ranked 23 at 273 cars / 1000 people

2009 Number of Motor Vehicle per capita: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tra_mot_veh-transportation-motor-vehicles
Malaysia ranked 3 at 641 cars / 1000 people

Ya lor, with you people and your daily drive, supermarket cart, wifey's ride, track car, weekend car, SUV/MPV, project car and tayang mobile, all in one family. No wonder our per capita car ownership us up.

 

[astroboy]

So u can see.. if no car, ask for car, now got car ask for better car.. haha...

What happen to the blame to inefficient public transportation?

"Because public transport system always break down, now we want better car.."

Quote from anxious writeup:
"Can you imagine the impact to our economy if prices of cars were to come down.."

My answer: First round of price drop of about 10% was some time in mid 90's and that has caused car ownership per capita to shoot up from 273/1000p to 641/1000p, if prices were to go drop again, we can quite easily move ahead of US in terms of car ownership per capita, more congestion on the road, 3-lanes highway is not enough, we need 4 by then. Car park would be another problem, heavy carbon emission would be next and so forth. We need to seriously consider your suggestion because the impact is serious. Why don't u go Hybrid way? We have incentives for those cute adorable vehicle. Vote is our least concern because we believe if we manage the country well and please the majority, vote will come in automatically.. :wink:

I feel for u anxious, if only we don't have national car, it will be a very different ball game.. I say shut down the national car to begin with. Otherwise, its "not fair" to them as they risk high chance of closing down anyway, and drag down with them all the supporting industries..

Anyway, above figures include motobikes..

 

[Hellraiser]

interesting....

no mention tho about the current income and cost of living as compared to that 10 years ago. better yet, why not just abolish duty and taxes like what they have in singapore, or why not also compare the prices of cars and fuel in singapore or the U.S for that matter or name me one country that does not practice protectionist policy in any form for any type of trade or name me one agreement that is "win-win" and not "win-win less" (if lucky) situation. (refer to NAFTA). Why is ASEAN not a powerhouse like the EEC?

to trade the cost of cars to a vote is equilavent to trading the civil liberties and the future of our children. is that what our rights are worth these days, the prices of cars?

if cars are so expensive why are there many households with min 2 cars? why are there still many conti cars on the road? why is everyone not driving protons or the equivalents? why not also compare the high income taxes in western countries (50%)

Why are the govenments of the world subsidizing the world airlines and motor industry? Is this not unfair to others who are operating without the governments support and risk overnight bankruptcy and loss of jobs?

I think if some or not all of the above questions are addressed, it will give the comment a more well rounded opinion worthy of an A+ assignment.

thinking again, if cars are gonna be cheaper, i wonder how the highways will fare? as it is, it's taking me longer and longer to get to work and back home. guess, i'll just skateboard to work one day...sigh.

 

[E46Fanatic]

We need better highways and road/town planning to go along with the surge of new car purchases when taxes come down. Else we'll all be enjoying our cars stationary on the road stuck in jams!

 

[dzuljazz2001]

So u can see.. if no car, ask for car, now got car ask for better car.. haha...

What happen to the blame to inefficient public transportation?

"Because public transport system always break down, now we want better car.."

Quote from anxious writeup:
"Can you imagine the impact to our economy if prices of cars were to come down.."

My answer: First round of price drop of about 10% was some time in mid 90's and that has caused car ownership per capita to shoot up from 273/1000p to 641/1000p, if prices were to go drop again, we can quite easily move ahead of US in terms of car ownership per capita, more congestion on the road, 3-lanes highway is not enough, we need 4 by then. Car park would be another problem, heavy carbon emission would be next and so forth. We need to seriously consider your suggestion because the impact is serious. Why don't u go Hybrid way? We have incentives for those cute adorable vehicle. Vote is our least concern because we believe if we manage the country well and please the majority, vote will come in automatically.. :wink:

I feel for u anxious, if only we don't have national car, it will be a very different ball game.. I say shut down the national car to begin with. Otherwise, its "not fair" to them as they risk high chance of closing down anyway, and drag down with them all the supporting industries..

Anyway, above figures include motobikes..

basically guys, if its all about business impact, short term thinking to protect the national cars by increasing taxes for imports is honestly not the solution. Consumers are much smarter now, where we now know the value for our money. Remember the saying, 1consumer is a smart consumer.
Business wise, we really dont get value for our money, be it our national cars or imports. Its high time for us to be a competitively developed nation. Proton/Perodua should start making value for money cars and the government should reduce taxes for imports.
Putting a high tag on taxes will only get you a certain percentage of consumer buying imports. When we talk about volume, it will definitly be able to offset the reduction of the taxes and most definitly increase one's revenue. At the end of the day, lower taxes will get you more than 3 times the numbers you are getting than if taxes are astronomically high.:stupid:

Just imagine the economics the 3 fold volume would bring to the country's revenue .... it will be a sort of pyramid effect. You will have more volume for commodities that support the auto industry. More jobs, maybe, that will be the indirect 'stimulus' the country needs now.

As for Proton/Perodua, upgrade the quality of your make and that will make you competitive and survive the business senario put forth. Its high time they move forward on their own and make an impact to the auto industry, Globally and not just domestically.

Till then, we will not be able to move out of that tag of being a 3rd world country...:top::wink:

 

[astroboy]

GE and Chrysler also need Obama's support what.. still their 335i is so cheap..

 

[dzuljazz2001]

true to every sense of the word astroboy BUT then again, Proton and Perodua are not in the red and not going bankrupt ....

 

[Hellraiser]

forgot to mention, the E90 in Germany only cost EUR 30,000 but many people don't buy them, they lease them.

 

[erica34]

its probably just there for the sake of being there. doubt what we write is going to make any difference except maybe make us feel a little better having had our say. a bit like main masak-masak to keep kids happy... thats how i feel we're being treated. and proton making money doesn't put them anywhere near gm or chrysler. its just making money. u can make money from selling crap. people do it all the time.

 

[keray]

Must tell him can remove the protectionist measures already since proton is not a lame duck company ;-) .