It is NOT the fault of the car manufacturers, it is legacy corruption and middlemen
The shenanigans of the previous long ruling government have put a big debt on our nation and the princely life enjoyed by former administrators and their families continue and will easily continue for at least 4-5 generations with the tens of millions that each of them have ‘put away’ in offshore bank accounts.
Most of this money will never return to Malaysia and this is a fact. Meanwhile the majority of Malaysians who are middle class will ‘pay’ for our nations debt with high taxes in all areas including the purchase of NEW cars.
Yes, we are all car crazy in one way or another and for many middle class Malaysians, owning a car is the next most important item after a home (for a some, the car comes before the home). This is why we have high new car sales for a rather small population when compared to some other larger ASEAN nations.
Drive around any middle class neighborhood and the average household will have at least 2 cars and a motorcycle. Actually, more like 3 cars and a motorcycle. The motorcycle is for errands and short trips for some, and some others this is the primary work mobility vehicle for the man of the house. The second car in the garage is the wife’s car and the first car is the family car (or vise versa).
Now, for many of these abovementioned households, the monthly repayments for the 2-3 vehicles is higher than the house monthly payments and here is where the problem lies.
WE Malaysians have been forced into high car prices to fill the pockets of previous nation administrators for many many many years and now the nations debts will be repaid by even higher car prices in 2024 and beyond.
The only way to pay all the previous debts will be via taxes and this is why the relevant Ministries are imposing tough checks on all car manufacturers in the country, both local assembled and imported vehicles, to get as much tax income as possible.
The administrators before ignored small loopholes in the local assembled vehicle industry and this allowed car manufacturers to bring their cost down and share the savings with Malaysians with better pricing on new cars.
With the new administrators, the cost of local assembling a car has gone up (currency exchange also UP) and the new administrators are able to collect more tax which goes into paying the debts of the previous administrators.
So what does all the above mean for the NEW car buyer in 2024?
Well, we have already seen some car brands raising their prices of their new models in 2023.
Remember, all and we do mean all car brands want to sell their vehicles at the best price in order to get more sales and increase their market share. Only super luxury car brands prefer to keep their prices up to maintain their exclusivity.
