Some of you may have noticed there has been some kind of shift in the prices of import marques in Malaysia, and also the way they are brought in – whether CKD or CBU. We now have CBU Japan imports at never before seen prices: the Mitsubishi Lancer GT and the Suzuki Vitara comes to mind.
Something that’s quite the opposite has been happening with the Korean makes here in Malaysia. Kia cars in Malaysia have classically been CBU models with only the Kia Spectra being a CKD model. Let’s not count the Naza-badged CKD models. Recently for the first time in a very long time, two new Kia models never seen before in the Malaysian market have been launched as a locally assembled CKD models.
Things are definitely changing somewhere in the tax department when it comes to cars. Excise exemptions? Free trade agreements? Industrial adjustment fund? These are the few possibilities that could be the catalysts for these changes with how import marques are sold here in Malaysia.
Back in July 2007, we also saw MITI take a step which many saw as a step backwards in the Malaysian automotive industry – allowing Open AP holders to import any car they want. Previously, Open AP holders could import any cars they wanted except for models that have been assigned to the franchise AP holders. Now you can see grey importers like Naza World bringing in the Honda Stream.
How has this affected Honda Malaysia’s own marketing plans in Malaysia in regards to the Honda Stream? I am sure they have planned to introduce it sooner or later. Honda Malaysia has invested so much here in Malaysia – an assembly plant in Malacca which even does some good for the economy by bringing in some money into the country by exporting CV joints.
To see it in a positive light, perhaps it is good that this grey import Stream has been given such a ridiculously high price tag – it could increase market perception of the Stream’s value and if Honda Malaysia gets around to introducing it with a lower price tag, it could have a positive effect.
Despite used car imports now being limited to 3% of the total market volume, grey importers can definitely damage the hard work that principals have been putting into their product plans. I cannot figure out these strange policies set by MITI which seemingly punish foreign investors who have poured money into our automotive industry. We are already losing out on so much to our neighbours.
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I would like to know it too. Maybe its a sign of final time strangling the auto industry before fully open market area? Will there be a fully open car market in future for Malaysia or Malaysia would rather pay fines then to open the market?
Why suddenly so much CBU Japan has the lower price??? Is that means we will see the car price reducation on 2008…
belief this is just the beginning of the big plan. Still have many pains need to suffer. Opss… people willing to pay maa. So, anything oso Boleh laaaa. Lulus. After 10 years if failed, then change new plan laa…. lost few billions also not mind laaa. Still the same… people will pay maa. Not enough then loan somewhere else.
its true that when 2 year back i buying kia spectra, a nicely rip engine from korea…. nice when you leg need some stretchling. It was price at $62k to 64k .. but lately i go online and seeing 70k+++
Its the stupid plan to making own people to pay more! wat a genius plan.
Cant once learn from thailand for sample… civic is selling at 65k RM after convert here. And your poeple can save on petrol.. less maintenance… and got extra money to spend in market at other sector. I talking 60-70k flow back to market! That is huge impact.
So, this mean, spend less on car.. more on property, food, health, insurance, investment etc. THen this is good for people laaa. THis also need me to teach kaaa. Really still wearing diper on the head when thinking is it! Come out so many stinky plan to torture people. Nice kaa!
No matter wat… AFTA is going to take place… either we take advantage of it, or keep staying the same old stinky way.
Proto is just a car assembly plant … make some skin.. cause of this… end up in so many things.. Sit and think again! ITs part of the big plan… and its the reason to keep it going.
This pricing issue will never ends one… even until my son time … also will still seeing this. Cause of why? cause this is the best place to find money… policy! thats the rule!
had seen many news before this.. how G lost money on this that contract and agreement. So… what… money only! people will pay maa.
It’s not about policy my dear friend. It is known as cronisme and nepotisme. It’s as simple as that.
when funny things becomes reality and policy being changed as wish … its a sign of general election being just around the corner (got to collect extra bucks to support the campaign..)
my opinion, naza’s imported Honda Stream won’t cause honda msia sleepless nights. There’s less security in buying a grey import.. they might say they have 1 yr warranty or sth, but i won’t buy a new car unless it’s from a dealer network. That’s the advantage of buying from dealer, u get the proper service and repair. Imagine u crash a grey import, how long do you have to wait to get parts for it? not to mention high labour cost. And don’t bother turning up to the local dealer crying for repair. I hear some dealers like UMW will not service your imported toyota.
Honda wont be just pricing thier new stream based on Naza’s price. They have other competitors to worry about. Naza on the other hand is making a killing for each stream they sell, cashing in on the impulsive.
You might get a 30k discount based on current Stream pricing when Honda Malaysia decides to sell the Stream.
The only way consumers will benefit is for the manufacturers and AP holders to fight for the pie. As long as they can continue to sell at high prices, there will be no downward pressure on prices.
Same logic applies to the rest of the car industry players. Its because people are not buying proton that they have a reason to improve….which is something we can already see now in its infancy.
Perhaps this is a last ditch try to make a quick buck before Malaysia as a country is forced to open the market. Something that we can see by the first of the odd low pricing on some full CBU units. Unfortunately this is far from being transparent so the general public does not know what is going on. Selling Proton to VW justs gives some of its privilaged shareholders to cash out before the market is open.
The rakyat has long been held hostage by the collective automotive industry (and those that run them) for a good 2 decades. Its no different from a big school bully that ransoms your lunch money. Being malaysians we know best to just keep quiet, so there we sit and stew but can’t blame anyone but ourselves.
Old Joe Ooi may have struck a nerves on most people here, but he’s right on one thing, Vote with your money, Stick with your car for a few more years.
There will continue to be a downward pressure on price as long as the market is allow to adjust to global market pricing (once the artificial limits are slowly relaxed)
$G63T,
“Its because people are not buying proton that they have a reason to improve”
but people are again buying proton’s in their thousands.
to say the govt is “selling’ proton to VW is not accurate as well. Its a partnership based on the partner taking equity. Its not the same as you said it. but whatever it is, i’m all for it, and hope the outcome is positive.
but the main point of all this is as you yourself said, the market is becoming more open as the days go by. Foreign makes are becoming more price competitive. We can already see today, there are more and more different cars and makes that are price competitive with Proton already. Why so many people still complain that they are forced to buy a proton is really beyond me… especially those who say people are “cheated” into buying a proton. I cant believe anyone being so silly, except for those who make comments like that.
BanyakMasukWorkshop
“Why so many people still complain that they are forced to buy a proton is really beyond me… especially those who say people are “cheated†into buying a proton. I cant believe anyone being so silly, except for those who make comments like that.”
Please list down any decent sedan car we malaysian can buy at the price on par with Proton Persona or below RM 55 k. Then you will understand y people complain that we r FORCED to buy proton.
But didn’t DRB-Hicom, or was it Westar bring in the first ‘grey’ imports to compete with their own Honda operations – most recently the new Honda STEPWAGON!?
No one ‘is forced to buy proton’ nowadays. With models like the Persona, buyers are buying because of value.
Car prices in Malaysia is not the lowest in the world, but neither is it the highest.
There is room for improvement , and I believe that the present adjustment will work towards cheaper prices. If not, Malaysian cars will never find markets abroad.
The damage is done, and to repair that may take some more time. I still maintain that we should not have gone into this ‘national car’ nonsense in the first place. All this is because of an expensive ego trip, which cost us, the car buyers money, quality and safety.
But that’s not to belittle the effort put in by Proton these last few months. They have been commendable, in terms of PR and customer focus. Before, it was ‘take it or leave it’. They have gained some humility and at the same time improved their product.
As for the future of Proton, no one can tell. If companies like Chrysler and Ford and GM can lose money, Proton certainly can too. Whatever it is, monopoly, as in the past, will not be used again as a means to prop up Proton. Who knows, they may even be a sucess story. Only time will tell.
Banyak,
Point taken. But remember the days when we needed to wait 6 months to buy a then new Wira? Its nowhere like this now. And it’s hitting the pockets of Proton. People may still be buying protons in the thousands, but their market share has since been greatly diminished.
However you look at it, we are still “FORCED” to buy one of the 2 local makes, Perodua or Proton, for due lack of similarly alternatives due to high protectionist policies. Remove those policies and it would be very clear who will get hit hard. Yes, one of the 2, or even both of them, and the vendors that leech off them.
Being “FORCED” is an action where you have no alternatives but to take that action. I think its a valid choice of word.
As per the industry as a whole, Malaysia has always demonstrated its ability to to change policy based on political whim instead to the actual benefit of the rakyat. It has always been shortsighted and halfhearted.
But we voted this governtment in (those that dont vote, same applies as well), who is there to blame? But us?
longjaafar
“With models like the Persona, buyers are buying because of value”
i want a sedan car but can only force to buy persona/ wira/ iswara/ gen2 which is below RM 55k. There is no other sedan car in the market below 55 k other than proton. so that’s y i buy myvi instead due to the fact that proton have disapointed me many many time n i do not want to go tru the night mare again…
cut the craps + reduce the prices = best solution……
out of topic:
1.thousands of 80’s Saga still on the road……
2.export proton models to so many countries and good feedbacks……
3.our “quite old” Perdana V6, is a V6…..
4.satria neo is soooooo nice……
my point is very simple, if really cant afford a foreign vehicle, or u just got a lot of Semangat Patriotik inside your soul, then stop complaining about Proton…. no budget but still want a car to travel? then go buy a copy of Motor Trader mag and seach for ur dream car…..
a 1996 luxury S280 for under 100K……
or a few decades old Datsun 120Y for the price of a new mobile phone……
I don’t understand the policies, really, but if the prices are dropping, it’s good for us consumers. I agree we’ll lose investors in the long run if this goes on though.
confusing…
So next time if visit showrooms, the sales people will ask us’ do you want original or local’ just like sparepart shops…
mitlanevo,u right man..if we cannot afford to buy foreign car,just buy local car or buy secondhand.so we need to work hard,not just talk.
When we all are arguing bout this matters here,those G people still goyang kaki & spend nonsense money,pay high price on what suppose to be a very cheap items,making fool of tax payer like us…so,what kind of country are we actually live in now?ohhohh,wait,they always say all the things here is lower & cheaper than other country,especially petrol & toll…no wonder more “low minded” people being “produces by our beloved G every year…haiz…
akshen_kamen
“mitlanevo,u right man..if we cannot afford to buy foreign car,just buy local car or buy secondhand.so we need to work hard,not just talk.”
True that we cannot afford to buy foreign car due to the current tax structure. i do not mind owning a local car.. in fact, my family use to own Wira and Waja and even Iswara. But the local car proton product give us a lot of problem mostly due to quality issue. that’s y now we have to change to Myvi and Kellisa. but the car is too small for us. So what option do we have?
u mention “work hard” for what? proton shu work harder to solve all the issue it face now.
Ppl, paul have raised an issue on the sudden influx of ckd koreans cars are ridiculous cheaply priced. There must be some loop holes here in the import tax structures that the car imported have discovered and currently exploited to the fullest before some major principals here begins to make noise. The definition of ckd or complete knock down, could be in 100% or could be in 50% form of the whole vehicle. If the car is actually complete car in the manufacturer’s country, and having only its wheels or radio perhaps dismantled, could this be deemed as ckd and assembled locally as well?
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NoToLowQuality said,
October 3, 2007 @ 6:01 pm
akshen_kamen
“mitlanevo,u right man..if we cannot afford to buy foreign car,just buy local car or buy secondhand.so we need to work hard,not just talk.â€
True that we cannot afford to buy foreign car due to the current tax structure. i do not mind owning a local car.. in fact, my family use to own Wira and Waja and even Iswara. But the local car proton product give us a lot of problem mostly due to quality issue. that’s y now we have to change to Myvi and Kellisa. but the car is too small for us. So what option do we have?
u mention “work hard†for what? proton shu work harder to solve all the issue it face now.
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u have any prove that if current tax remove,all the foreign car will be cheaper??
NoToLowQualit
some people can afford to buy the foreign car even the high price right now because maybe the work hard to archive their dream to drive foreign car.not just wait for the price go down or blame other.
Holly Dolly Parton !! I have read somewhere about the new launched Mitsubishi Grandis in Malaysia today. The price has been slashed from about RM 212,000 for the old model to as low as around RM 158,000 for the new one. Is it really due to technology has eventually become cheaper or because of the reason stated in the above article…muhahah. Any Granny can guess…
Just some of my teories as I noticed some trends here which are favourable to kill off competition and secure market share in facing a more open and free market place in future.
1. Recent price drops are mainly Japanese CBUs. Coincidental or not, the Japanese yen has depreciated 10% -15% since last year or so. Thai baht has on the contrary appreciated against ringgit. Exchange rate factor.
2. Those marques that drop prices are mainly DRB related e.g. Suzuki, Mitsubishi. DRB’s aspiration.
3. Those marques that drop prices are mainly (or used to be) strong brands in the eyes of Malaysian but have been relatively under represented here in terms of market share e.g Suzuki, Mitsubishi. Brand building.
4. Proton is at it’s weakest point. Time to kill when competition is weak.
5. Consumers are increasingly going for quality and more sofisticated.
6. Consumer are getting more affluent. Affordability.
7. AP factor?
Just my 2 sen.
If Japan CBU’s are getting cheap, Honda should bring in the Acura RL( Honda Legend) for those who don’t know
Well… For me is some of those sales ppl are business gimic to attract customer to buy… If u check for the real spec in Japan, they got a lot of accessories like 6 air-bags, VSC vechicle stability control, 4wd… If u want to sell cheap, bring in the basic line of the model, just like proton did to persona & other model Base line model… For BASE line model in foreign country, they must have 2 air-bags and ABS standard.. while in Malaysia these features are consider very good! OMG! These already in this automobile world for already 20-30 years, and these technology are cheap nowadays…
So dont think the price is cheap coz of G tax reduction… U have to check the spec in those car and compare it to Japan Domestic Market model spec… A lot of ppl dont care, coz they dont really know how to check in Japanese web site… That why in the end, education is important. But in the case for malaysian, the more cheaper + bigger the item the more better to buy… That why some car is selling very good nowadays, due to cheap value…
akshen kamen..
i dunno la if u c or not the list of the actual price of the import car b4 tax from kastam..when u c dat then u’ll know wut some of them complaining abt tax…G protection twards national car…etc…u can c the actual price of honda jazz which is around d price of savvy or mbe lower…beemer 3 er which is min price under 100k…n…i can c my murano..actual price only 70k-80k but i bought it 200k abv…so…is it fair???yes..ure rite we hv to work hard..bt izit we want to spend most of our money to the car only???so some of them(medium ppl) dun want to take a risk to spend most of their money 4 car only although they now actually they can gt their dream car at lower price tag…bcoz for them better they spend their money to ther thing…so…finally end up with national car like proton and perodua..so.G is d want we hv to blame wt their corruption menifesto….and sum of them still workhard bt still cant afford dat…Y???bcoz of G increasing all thing so they cant afford their dream cars…so…G naik lemak n suck our money a lot..jz think wisely whose to blame…we workhard bt some of us suffer of wut G done to us…
ok.i ask u…if ure workhard to gt ur dream car..bt u cant and end up jz can afford…ok let say u like honda jazz…for example…bt u cant afford it n end up with savvy…although u know dat if there is no corruption or idiot plan frm G…u can afford dat jazz with d savvy price…are u satisfied??
akshen_kamen
“u have any prove that if current tax remove,all the foreign car will be cheaper??”
If you live in Malaysia, there is a place call Langkawi. That place, you can buy cars without tax. Thus, u can get let say Honda City for 54 k inclusive of road tax n insurance which is below 55k. website : http://www.honda.com.my/models/city_price_list_idsi-langkawi.cfm
any further proof u need?
akshen_kamen
“some people can afford to buy the foreign car even the high price right now because maybe the work hard to archive their dream to drive foreign car.not just wait for the price go down or blame other.”
well.. u can say that i don;t really work hard but work smart. that’s y i buy perodua rather than proton. i don mind sacrifice the boot space for a decent car. btw… owing a good quality products is not a dream. may be for your mindset, owing a quality cars is a dream for all malaysian and that’s y we have to work hard.
NoToLowQuality said,
October 4, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
well.. u can say that i don;t really work hard but work smart. that’s y i buy perodua rather than proton. i don mind sacrifice the boot space for a decent car. btw… owing a good quality products is not a dream. may be for your mindset, owing a quality cars is a dream for all malaysian and that’s y we have to work hard.
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i am open minded and accept your opinion.i support your opinion that we need to work hard and smart to be successful. of course la owning a quality car is a dream.what the heck if you take 9 years loan just to pay for the crap car.but i want to say that not all the imported car is has very high quality and not not all local car include proton,perodua and naza have bad quality. but this in malaysian people mindset,they choose brand first then quality because they thought all the branded item have good quality..this just my opinion and i can accept other comment.