Cars in Malaysia the 2nd MOST EXPENSIVE in the world

A US blog has ranked Malaysia second in most expensive place to own a car in the world, losing only to its neighbour Singapore.

Indonesia, Nicaragua, China, Brazil, United Kingdom, St Kitts and Nevis, North Korea and Cuba were ranked behind Singapore and Malaysia according to September 5 entry posted in Jalopnik.com.

“In Malaysia, the Toyobaru twins cost around $75,000 new while Mercedes SLS AMG cost around $600,000 brand new. This is where a beige mobile such as the Accord and Camry are consider as a luxury car,” read the review posted by a writer nicknamed SatriaFanboy on the website.

“Plus, many Malaysian spec car lacks in many safety features but still sold at a higher price. Due to high excise tax and protection policy for our local car maker Proton, many people here only can dream owning a BRZ or a Miata,” it added.

M'sian govt wants to make money

Meanwhile, K Koris Atan, vice president of Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) was quoted by The Edge saying that there was no reason for Malaysia to have more expensive cars like Singapore where car prices were driven by the expensive bidding for the Certificate of Entitlement to own a vehicle and also part of government’s initiative to push people to use public transport.

"But in Malaysia the high taxes on cars are not because the government wants to discourage car ownership, as much as because it want to make money from the taxes," Koris was quoted saying.

The president of Penang Consumer Protection Association also criticised national car policy of imposing high taxes on foreign cars to protect local made cars.

Malaysia, he said, is the only country that produces its own car that relies on domestic market instead of exports to make most of its profits.

Harakahdaily