Why do we need 164 Open AP Companies?

We ask the question, why Malaysia needs 164 reconditioned car importers when we have 35 registered NEW car brand owners in Malaysia who have invested in state of the art car showrooms, after sales and some even factory and assembly facilities.

Some of the 35 car brands are Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot, Renault, Nissan, Porsche, Jaguar, Land Rover Volvo, Perodua, Proton, Haval, Isuzu, Borgward, Subaru, Ferrari, Maserati, Citroen, Mitsubishi, Westar, Lexus, Infiniti, McLaren, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls Royce and Mini.

We recently published an article about the NEW number of Open Automobile Approved Permit (AP) holders that have entered into the business of importing used/reconditioned cars and motorcycles to Malaysia.

We mentioned 38 new AP holders and we apologies for the mistake made as it actually stands at 36 new AP holders (statement issued by the Ministry Of International Trade & Industry {MITI}).

The statement from MITI also shared that there are now a total of 164 AP holders where previously there were 128 AP holders.

So, this means that each AP holder has say between 40 to maybe even 3,000 AP’s a year to import used cars from England and Japan; clean them, spend a little on new tires, battery and tinting and then make some very decent profit as they have no investment in after-sales, warranty, training, branding and so on.

From our investigation, the total number of AP’s issued each year is capped at 10% of the number of local-assembled cars in the preceding year.

• 60% Of APs are given to Bumiputera Open AP holders
• 40% Are given to franchise holders. Franchise APs that are given out for free to franchise holders of car brands registered with MITI.

So, why do we need more Open AP holders? Is it to share the healthy profit pie or is it to keep imported luxury car prices high, or is it to ‘line’ pockets?

Here below is the complete list of current open AP holders in Malaysia. All 164 of them for your attention.