Is BN planning to abolish all and also Electric Car AP’s if they win this election?
The Barisan Nasional chairman, Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi last night made a strong statement that when Barisan Nasional wins the coming General Election (GE15), he will remove the approved permits (AP’s) requirement for electric vehicles in Malaysia, this we reported by MSN.com.
This move will make a lot of middle and lower middle class Malaysians very happy as right now they are unable to purchase an electric car due to the high selling prices.
EV prices in Malaysia are high because of vehicle costs from their country of origin as right now there are NO import duties on electric cars imported into the country, new or used. Instead it is because of our LOW Malaysian currency exchange rate that puts selling prices high.
This week Volvo Car Malaysia launched a refreshed XC40 electric SUV for RM278,888 which is RM16k more expensive than the XC40 electric SUV that was introduced in May 2022 (just 6 months ago) because of higher currency exchange.
Meanwhile, AP’s or ‘approved permits’ are needed when any vehicle (electric or petrol or diesel) is imported into Malaysia.
Interestingly, these exclusive import permits are given to only a selected number of individuals (PEKEMA) in Malaysia who import reconditioned or used vehicles into the country which are then sold by them or in the case of some, they sold via ‘partnered used car dealers.
Now, these AP’s are issued by the Ministry Of Trade And Industry (MITI) and are only for Bumiputra businessmen to import in USED vehicles, not NEW vehicles.
The biggest change in the AP system came last year when MITI allowed these AP holders to sell brand new electric vehicles like Tesla and to sweeten the deal, the import duties on electric cars were removed (by MITI and Ministry Of Finance)) allowing these AP holders to earn generous profits together with their ‘used car partners’.
Meanwhile, with this statement from the BN chairman on the removal of electric car AP’s to allow middle class and lower middle class Malaysians to buy and import electric cars freely, it points to a possibility that even the used petrol powered vehicle AP might also be abolished in Malaysia.
This will definitely be very welcomed by all the official car manufacturers and official car distributors in Malaysia who have never been in favor of the used car AP system which ‘eats’ into their sales.
Is this just a gimmick to get votes or is it a move by the Malaysian government to remove ‘AP Kings’ and allow Malaysian car buyers more choice and lower prices for cars, especially electric cars as their selling prices are high because of the added cost of the AP holder and more?
With electric cars gaining popularity very fast in Malaysia, we will have to wait and see if this statement will swing votes.
For us, it will not make a difference at all as we will buy an electric car from an official car manufacturer like KIA Motors or Mercedes-Benz Malaysia or Volvo Car Malaysia or Bermaz or Porsche or Great Wall Motor who offer factory after sales and warranty unlike AP holders who do not.
