There is one huge secret weapon that can help the BN gomen prevail at the next General Elections. Lower the prices of cars to reflect actual market prices around the world. I was talking to a car guy recently. He is convinced the National Automotive Policy is not telling the truth. The selling prices of all imported vehicles are determined by the gomen. It is NOT a market decision. We are not getting the full picture.
Someone sent me this in the email :
Why are cars way cheaper in the US?
Someone sent me this in the email :
Why are cars way cheaper in the US?
The recent car prices issue made me curious. Having been totally unaware of such huge discrepancies between Malaysian and world prices in US, UK, and Aus, Thailand and Indonesia, I went on the Internet to see what real world car prices were. I was shocked.
These are US car prices with US duty and import tax paid, which are just like Malaysian car prices with duty and tax also paid, but here, you will see, they are much lower and less exorbitant than in Malaysia.
Bear in mind all cars are CBU (complete built up) Japan, CBU South Korea or CBU Germany.
The following cars we get here are CKD (complete knocked down) cars with more than 50 percent Malaysian content and "supposedly" are cheaper due to their being CKD and supporting Malaysian manufacturers.
I cannot understand, we support our own Malaysian manufacturers and beli barang buatan (buy local) Malaysia too, and yet the prices can be higher than barang buatan (made in) Japan or German, which is usually higher in quality.
And yet, to make matters worse, US people's GDP per capita is higher than Malaysia and the average American earns five times more than the average Malaysian.
Mainstream car prices
In USA ------------------- In MALAYSIA
Honda Accord RM64,440 ------------------- RM150,000
Honda CRV RM67,485 ------------------- RM150,000
Honda Civic RM47,865 ------------------- RM115,000
Toyota Altis RM48,390 ------------------- RM112,000
Toyota Camry RM66,165 ------------------- RM180,000
Kia Sorento RM69,450 ------------------- RM160,000
Hyundai Tucson RM57,735 ------------------- RM140,000
Hyundai Sonata RM62,685 ------------------- RM150,000
Hyundai Elantra RM50,085 ------------------- RM98,000
Luxury car prices
BMW 328i RM109,500 ------------------- RM300,000
BMW 528i RM149,000 ------------------- RM400,000
BMW 535i RM157,000 ------------------- RM600,000
BMW X5 RM142,500 ------------------- RM580,000
Mercedes E350 RM153,000 ------------------- RM400,000 (M'sia for CKD E250)
Jaguar XF RM159,000 ------------------- RM500,000
Jaguar XJ RM221,000 ------------------- RM1,000,000
Porsche Cayenne RM 146,000 ------------------- RM570,000
Please forward this to every Malaysian you know so that they may realise how we are being cheated in car prices and have been cheated for the past 30 years or more.
Most Malaysians pay close to 50 percent of their salary for their monthly payments for their cars.
Not only do the banks get an easy ride ('cause everybody is "forced" to take loans), we have to live in debt for over seven years, depriving our family of better food and clothes.
The last two points are very relevant. We are making our own people poorer. Entry level graduates earn about RM2000+ per month. Even if they buy a Proton or Perodua (four tyres, airbags, engine, four doors) they are going to be paying RM400 - RM600 per month in instalments alone. That is about 20% to 25% of their monthly income.
If they buy a slightly better car the monthly instalments may be closer to RM1000 or 50% of their monthly income. What about non graduates? They can buy motorbikes or used cars.
Now look at the comparison prices. In the US a Honda Accord sells for RM64,000. A Honda CRV sells for RM67,000. In Malaysia both sell for RM150,000. Malaysians pay 2.34 times what Americans have to pay for the same car. (And now with sabsidi minyak makin kurang, harga minyak pun makin naik in Malaysia).
Americans earn about four to five times more than Malaysians. Yet they pay 40% or less for the same car. This means their monthly instalments will also be only 40% of what Malaysians pay. They earn much more than us but they pay much much less than us for the same car.
Kenapa kita bodoh sangat? At these crazy prices, we can simply buy a Honda Accord at showroom sticker prices in the US, put it on an airplane and airfreight the car to Malaysia and it will still be cheaper than the RM150,000 we are paying per Honda Accord.
How do we do it? Just remove the APs, reduce the import duties, excise duties or whatever crap you may call it and I will import it for you. And sell it for much less than RM150,000.
Sebelum akhir kalam, siapa jadi miskin dulu? Orang Melayu jadi miskin dulu. Because they are the biggest group of car buyers. And many are fixed income wage earners. Because of the high car prices, they are forced to buy small cars like Proton and Kancil.
And often they have larger families. So they pack large families into each car. Then when there is any accident or nahas, things like this can happen :
The last two points are very relevant. We are making our own people poorer. Entry level graduates earn about RM2000+ per month. Even if they buy a Proton or Perodua (four tyres, airbags, engine, four doors) they are going to be paying RM400 - RM600 per month in instalments alone. That is about 20% to 25% of their monthly income.
If they buy a slightly better car the monthly instalments may be closer to RM1000 or 50% of their monthly income. What about non graduates? They can buy motorbikes or used cars.
Now look at the comparison prices. In the US a Honda Accord sells for RM64,000. A Honda CRV sells for RM67,000. In Malaysia both sell for RM150,000. Malaysians pay 2.34 times what Americans have to pay for the same car. (And now with sabsidi minyak makin kurang, harga minyak pun makin naik in Malaysia).
Americans earn about four to five times more than Malaysians. Yet they pay 40% or less for the same car. This means their monthly instalments will also be only 40% of what Malaysians pay. They earn much more than us but they pay much much less than us for the same car.
Kenapa kita bodoh sangat? At these crazy prices, we can simply buy a Honda Accord at showroom sticker prices in the US, put it on an airplane and airfreight the car to Malaysia and it will still be cheaper than the RM150,000 we are paying per Honda Accord.
How do we do it? Just remove the APs, reduce the import duties, excise duties or whatever crap you may call it and I will import it for you. And sell it for much less than RM150,000.
Sebelum akhir kalam, siapa jadi miskin dulu? Orang Melayu jadi miskin dulu. Because they are the biggest group of car buyers. And many are fixed income wage earners. Because of the high car prices, they are forced to buy small cars like Proton and Kancil.
And often they have larger families. So they pack large families into each car. Then when there is any accident or nahas, things like this can happen :
Yes I know, these accidents can happen all over the world. But Malay families have less chances of surviving such accidents when they are forced to buy tiny tin cans because the Proton School of Management believes that it must be a really good thing to pay three times or four times world market prices for cars. Ya Allah, pasal apa depa tak faham benda basic macam ni? What is wrong with these people?
For RM150,000 you get a Honda Accord in Malaysia. For the same price you get a Mercedes Benz E350 in the US. A bigger, better and safer car. So all of you who are driving Honda Accords, you should be driving a Mercedes Benz.
If higher quality and safer cars are cheaper, fewer families will lose their lives in car accidents. You are possibly safer in a Volvo than in a tin can.
Here is a question for the proponents of the Proton School of Management. Why do you pay RM1.10 for roti canai? Why dont you pay three times the price ? RM3.30 per roti canai? According to your logic isnt that a good thing to do? Pay three times the market price for the same product?
For those who are tech savvy (but still weak in the head) why pay RM1,000 for an I Pad? Why not pay three times the market price? Pay RM3000 per I Pad. That also must be a good thing to do. Better still, lets make our own I Pad and then sell it at three times market price. That must be an even better thing to do.
I really hope the car prices will become a big issue in the next General Elections. I have been writing about this for years and years. I hope the day will soon come when we can buy a car at the best possible world prices.
Who cares how much they pay for cars in Singapore or Thailand or India? This is Malaysia. Not Singapore and not Thailand or India.
If a Mercedes Benz E350 that is "Made In Germany" sells for RM150,000 in the US, then that shall be the selling price in Malaysia as well or cheaper.
In the US car showroom rentals are higher, car salesman salaries are higher, electricity and telephone bills are higher - everything is more expensive in the US. Yet the cars are much much cheaper. Their road tax is almost non existent. The entire registration fee plus license plate for a car in California is about RM360 only.
The gomen and the Proton School of Management should change our attitudes towards cars. They are not luxury items at all. They are bare necessities for modern living. We must set up a Ministry whose job shall be just to find ways and means to make car prices as cheap as possible.
All this confusion over duties, NAP, APs etc not only burdens car buyers, especially memiskinkan orang Melayu dulu, but it proves hangpa tak faham bisnes, ekonomi atau apa pun. You guys are just plain jerkoff morons.
If a Mercedes Benz E350 that is "Made In Germany" sells for RM150,000 in the US, then that shall be the selling price in Malaysia as well or cheaper.
In the US car showroom rentals are higher, car salesman salaries are higher, electricity and telephone bills are higher - everything is more expensive in the US. Yet the cars are much much cheaper. Their road tax is almost non existent. The entire registration fee plus license plate for a car in California is about RM360 only.
The gomen and the Proton School of Management should change our attitudes towards cars. They are not luxury items at all. They are bare necessities for modern living. We must set up a Ministry whose job shall be just to find ways and means to make car prices as cheap as possible.
All this confusion over duties, NAP, APs etc not only burdens car buyers, especially memiskinkan orang Melayu dulu, but it proves hangpa tak faham bisnes, ekonomi atau apa pun. You guys are just plain jerkoff morons.
Dude.. Instead of blaming the average joe Malaysian for not understanding what's going on here, why don't you shed some light on what kind of solution are there for us to take in order to solve this problem instead?.
ReplyDeleteNow, we all know the source of the problem here is the trade protectionism act, which in short, Proton. Are you proposing that the government close down Proton?. Not going to happen. So, I'm really curious to know what you have in mind.. :)
Goodjob
ReplyDeleteAs for the solution, there is a movement going on currently not just in Malaysia but worldwide, which will eventually cure such social injustice, inequality, prejudice and other social ills. Like-minded people are going through training programs and conducting spiritual empowerment programs to educate and empower the next generation of leaders and people in society. They learn to do day-to-day things in an attitude of service, they learn to express thoughts eloquently and in a tactful manner, they learn to analyze the positive and negative forces of society, to coorperate, not compete, and many other things that will shape them into the kind of human beings we are meant to be.
ReplyDeleteWebsite is terribly unfriendly to mobile devices...
ReplyDeleteMany of your arguments are a slippery slope as in you assume that for a cause there can only be one effect : "we have to live in debt for over seven years, depriving our family of better food and clothes". This is not necessarily true, otherwise you'd see a majority of the citizens of Malaysia begging for money. And I think that it really is up to the government to decide how they want to price the cars, not only Malaysia does it by the way. To compare Malaysia and the United States is naive. We don't have as large an economy as they do and reducing car prices will definitely not help in maintaining our economy. There is reason behind action.
ReplyDeleteI love these kind of blog posts. I am always amused that writers of these posts like to showcase how "fragile" Malaysian made cars are, this of course is to further the point that we are paying too much for junk.
ReplyDeleteSo here is a picture of a German car that was in an accident for you: http://images.thecarconnection.com/med/bmw-m3-ripped-in-two-from-high-speed-crash_100338427_m.jpg
Don't blame the car, rather the foolishness of us drivers. Man up and take responsibility, but yeah Malaysians like shoving blame around yes?
Anyway instead of harping about high car prices... and the "aww I wish I could ditch my Proton and buy a BMW" crap...
Why not think about it positively.
A BMW has prestige, it is a target to strive for, many people work really hard because they want to achieve the car of their dreams. Or do you want to be like Europeans, so many of whom can afford fantastic cars! Even when they hardly hold a top level job.
Do we really want to "get" everything without having to "work" hard for it. Do we not want a society whose people still hold to high aspirations and work hard to achieve them? And let's not even get started on continental cars having higher fuel consumption...!
I think the current car prices are fine as they are. If you really want to argue, then argue about where all how that government revenue is spent... not how it is collected.
Lol, are you saying that higher car prices are needed to motivate the people of this country? Look i have no qualms paying extra money in taxes when I can have a dependable public transport, but when the money I'm paying due to stupid regulations is not put to proper use then I think its only fair that everyone has a right to complain, and esspecially when the money could be used to give your family and you a healthier living, then it is just a sad case. Your mindset is yours, but its a sad one from my point of view.
DeleteI think the solution for this, is rather than blame the government or such. It is their rights to price it at whatever they want. Afterall, they are the government. Complaining and complaining might change the policies, but it will take time. If it is hard for us to change our ways, our mindset, our lifestyle. What makes us think the people up there will want to change their ways for the rakyat?
ReplyDeleteMore importantly, we need to understand ourselves, how our government works and how the money flow. If all we need is a transportation to get from Point A to Point B. Any car works. There are an abundance of used cars as everyone is rushing to change to a newer better one. But let's not forget, everytime we buy a new car, the government gets a huge cut from taxes, the cronies get a huge cut from AP, the dealers get a good profit margin. And we are being worked 7-9 years to pay off a loan which after that your car is also at an old age and have lost most of its value.
If we were to get a basic used car for transportation purposes, we are saving ourselves the taxes which is being paid to the government. We reduce putting monies to pockets of cronies. Instead we are putting them to the hands of the people, which in return will help push local economies. And our commitment for a vehicle that bring us from point A to B is not taxing our lives - the good food that you can put on the table, the time that you can spend with your families, etc etc.
Many will argue that a used car may not be as reliable as a new car. I beg to differ with so many stories around the internet of new cars breakdown as well. And the difference here is new cars have got a warranty. But when your car is in the workshop under warranty you still loose your mode of transportation and also need to pay for the bank loan. If you choose a cheap used car, the parts & repair costs WILL NOT be as expensive as a new car's bank installment and also the depreciation that will affect a new car. Furthermore, when your car is under finance - it is your liability. When your car is yours (fully paid up) - it is your asset - be it a cheap used proton wira.
And we can see why the government is encouraging new car purchase. And also coming out with policies to curb old cars. This is to encourage you to put your hard earn money into the pockets of the G, the cronies, etc etc.
So at the end of the day it is your choice!!
Of course, driving around in a old junk is not prestigious, everyone wants new stuff. But then again, if paying for prestige is your cup of tea - then don't blame our ridiculous car price. But rather, I'm paying for face. I don't want to be seen in an old junk. My car is not just a tool for me to get from Point A to Point B, rather I used it to boost my ego. At the end of the day, it is all our personal choices that we make that determined what kind of life we will live.
Decide for yourself what you can or cannot afford. And most of all choose the choice that makes you happy!!
your article no good!
ReplyDeletethe writer not understand how oversea system works.
ReplyDeleteI have a malaysian friends that already migrate to Hong Kong
i have ask him why you didnt get a car since HK car is soo cheap.
abt half price or lower than malaysia price.
as he say HK buy car cheap but to monthly commitment is very high.
Insurance : almost double of malaysia rate
Roadtax : Ermm for Low CC not much compare malaysia but they have flat rate after 3000cc
Need a parking space before you can but car the price of car park is almost you rent a house in Malaysia.
Petrol : no need to say is expensive RM 8 per liter
Parking : As you go to shopping to the parking rate is almost RM 100 ++ for full days depends location.
As Japan also same .... very very expensive.