There are only two announcements made during the unveiling of the Budget 2009 yesterday that directly applies to motorists. One is a change in the road tax structure for diesel cars. Effective from the 1st of September 2008, the road tax rates for diesel cars will be changed to be the same as petrol cars.
I am not sure whether this is really good news or not because for an owner of the Isuzu D-MAX 3.0 who previously had to pay RM1,878.10 for individual private registration (according to Isuzu Malaysia’s website) for his truck equipped with a 2,999cc engine, he now may have to pay over RM2,000 for his road tax (typical for a 3.0 litre petrol engine). Unless of course they are still keeping the significant green engine discount, then the new rates will be cheaper.
The other thing revealed during the budget presentation was the abolishing of 100% import duty and 50% excise duty for hybrid cars imported by franchise holders with engine displacements lower than 2,000cc.
What I like is the barriers that the government has put around this to prevent “loopholes” as it would rule out all the “luxury hybrids” out there (including the 2.4 litre Camry Hybrid and the collection of hybrid Toyota MPVs) and narrow it down to cars like the Civic Hybrid and the Prius which have small engines assisted by electric motors. Only allowing franchise holders (and not Open AP holders, grey importers) to have this tax exemption would only let genuine importers who will back their cars like Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
The tax exemption will be affective from the 30th of August 2008 to the 31st of December 2010 (slightly more than 2 years). The government has also defined what is a hybrid car. It says a hybrid car should be “a vehicle with at least two different energy converters and two different energy storage systems (gasoline and electric), on-board the vehicle for the purpose of vehicle propulsion.” It should also achieve not less than a 50% increase in city fuel economy OR not less than a 25% increase in combined city-highway fuel economy compared to an equivalent vehicle with a regular internal-combustion engine. Carbon monoxide emissions must be less than 2.3 g/km.
As mentioned above, this tax exemption will only be in effect for the next 2 years. The rational given by the government is that they want to encourage local assembly of hybrid cars. Allowing cars to be brought in at prices to simulate local assembled prices for a short period of time will allow car manufacturers to gauge public acceptance of hybrid cars so that they can take into consideration local assembly.
Whether this will work or not is not known – hybrid cars are complicated things and there could be a reason why hybrid cars usually come from a centralise production center in a world. Only when the Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive achieved major success did Toyota decide to set up more hybrid production centers around the world, one of which will be up north in Thailand. The others will be in Mississippi, Australia and China.
Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd has announced that it welcomes the new “temporary” tax structure and it would be announcing the Honda Civic Hybrid’s new pricing soon. The Honda Civic Hybrid currently costs RM162,800 OTR with insurance in the Peninsular Malaysia. In Langkawi, it costs RM100,800 and RM104,800 in Labuan.
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Wow. Good news indeed. Definitely will consider the Civic hybrid if the price tag is low enough…
yeah..low fuel cosumption too..can save money on $$$
btw i think 100k still overprice lah..
The diesel road tax structure is divided into two categories namely diesel passenger cars and 4×4/SUV. The road tax reduction is applicable only to diesel passenger cars(sedan). This is a significant boost to proponents of diesel cars because the old pricing structure was ridiculously expensive therefore blocking any real efforts for car manufacturers to include diesel vehicles in their lineup. The next step is to introduce Euro II or even the current world standard Euro IV quality fuel to our distribution system. Only then will be see an inprovement in our diesel powered vehicles. The sad thing is that Proton does not seem to have diesel engine model to take advantage of this reduction.
What PM said:
23.Currently, private passenger vehicles with diesel engines owned by individuals and companies are subject to a higher road tax compared with those with petrol engines. The Government will reduce the road tax on private passenger vehicles with diesel engines to be the same as those with petrol engines, effective 1 September 2008.
So, it is “private passenger VEHICLES”, not passenger cars only.
Proton does have diesel (mitsubishi) engine, but it was catered for commercial used like taxis a while back then. Unfortunately, it is a standards 2.0 Liter normal aspirated diesel is somewhat, weak.
GO HYBRID!
THANK YOU BN
good news for honda indeed……lets see how much the new hybrid will cost.
i would say around a price of the 2.0 civic….130k perhaps. since hybrid tech is expensive and also honda only sells no more than 5 units/month now, hence the premium price.
but good alternative to ppl who live areas like KL and PJ where traffic jams are like a norm.
So the SUV, pickup still paying the same road tax? Or increase road tax? Especially the Semenanjung.
Hybrid should be more recommended by citizen. Moreover, government should encourage to get more import this type of vehicle and locally make. Not only the tax but also to have a special rate on road tax and insurance. Hope Civic Hybrid price will lower than 110k.
correct me if i’m wrong but does that mean the civic hybrid is then totally tax free? If that’s so how come we’re still overpaying for the car as when I checked with the US website the Honda Civic Hybrid with sales tax included after conversion still costs around RM86000.
I don’t think the CIvic hybrid will cost RM86k, would be great if it did, and if it is the Japs will be laughing…and good job the taxfree is only until 2000cc, that filters out the hybrid Camry for good. The opposition must have knocked some sense into their head finally
Will you get the Langkawi price for the whole of Malaysia then?
The problem is not 2 years after the car has been bought, the problem is when its time to replace that electric motor, or major overhaul for the car. How much will that cost.
Also petrolhead (and those commute 110kmh on highway) can forget about Honda Hybrids, seen the Top gear Prius vs M3. Prius was not economical. This car is for intown slow driving. Quick pickups will use more engine fuel.
It is a good move, but the problem is only a few can import the hybrid cars and who can service it? And when is the real Open Market for all Asean imported cars?
Anyway i already knew hybrid half-cuts are around, i have seen prius half-cut in S.Petani but the price i haven ask. So it should not have a problem to find aftermarket parts.
I think the G should upgrade the Diesel quality, the diesel is already world price already but the quality still at 3rd world! But i saw some report that some petrol station already have EURO 2 standart, why not list the name? Competition?
In Europe, turbo diesel engines are proven to go more miles then normal hybrid cars and somemore cheaper to maintain. (no need plugs, mostly timing chain and only change the engine oil! ~ for engine) Please do some home work BN G!
good, at least now they’re doing something about it.
but when are they gonna erase the AP system which is illegal undert WTO, and bring in EURO 4 or at least 3 fuels here?!
despite the good move, our automotive policy is still behind the times.
mystvearn, i tot is the electric motor that controibute to the pickup power?????????
Govt must reduce the local excise duty which still around 50-100 percent and that 30 percent import duty from non-ASEAN cars.
It’s a plain cheat by the govt to keep protecting Proton. The extra excise duty on other car brands being annualised on car loans/interest repayment just make it a double crook jobs.
The day that Proton close shop will not only a national public holiday but for the rest of ASEAN countries.
Yeah, i still remember last time Thailand & Philipins banned their cars from entering Malaysia thanks for NEP…
hybrid cars…pah….real rubbish
I’ll give a 50% kudos to the government for starting somewhere but I still find this reactive rather than proactive and there is still Proton protection measures in there.
1. Where are the incentives for car manufacturers to set up R&D or manufacturing facilities for alternative fuel vehicles in Malaysia? Thailand has it.
2. What about fully electric or zero emission cars? No tax reductions at all? If so then it’s very short sighted, I want my Tesla!
3. How about a tax structure based on emissions rather than engine size? That will encourage people to use and bring in more fuel efficient cars.
Again it’s a step in the right direction but very reactionary and not proactive. The Thais got it right in many ways.
Tishaban’s question no.1 is the real question that we needed to answer 5 years ago. proton is just rubbish future wise for the country.
hybrid cars…..not rubbish. proton cars….rubbish.
hybrid cars…..not rubbish. proton cars….rubbish.
well if you put it that way, then proton cars are really rubbish. but proton isn’t a car, it does not deserve to be recognized as a car
This budget 2009, have so little good thing to offer the auto sector.
Only good in re-enforce the truth that the G have little clue on way forward, perhaps Thailand have sapu semua and BN G malu nak tiru, beside there is this little company called proton that had to be protected pulak…
why r this G can’t listen to what the rakyat want? pekak kah?
diesel car tax relax is okay only .. as its only benefit new diesel car owners, of course current owners benefit too but that is not the point here. By looking at current scenario, have the market player been ‘told’ earlier about this, coz i don’t think so ( bcoz there is no fresh news and updates on G decision about the diesel fuel direction).
The fuel grade should be upgraded to the highest level Euro IV, if only to Euro II like what been hoo-haah so so so long ago, bodoh lah.
For example, renault, peugeot, citroen franhise holder might look at this seriously coz in Europe they make good diesel engine and have a plethora of model/variant ready / sold in other market. So the car is there & ready.
However, even that is not so many choice given the CBU status (and the high tax) for their car, beside french car is not popular/preffered choice with m’sian. can’t see this change dramatically just coz of diesel. sepatutnya, G should relax the taxes on new CBU diesel cars into the country. barulah the policy tu end-to-end sikit. Ada kesinambungan kata orang.. (or got continuity in English).. ini.. asyik2 policy half-cooked.
As for the hybrid, that is a really stupid thing. i just can’t disguise the choice of words anymore. why? hybrid <2000cc = honda civic hybrid. everbody know this. there might be other in the world, but I dont know. everybody also most probably same like me. So…
WHY in the name of God, does Malaysian government made a bias policy (with a caveat) just for HONDA, the company?
This policy clearly create a free market for HONDA to rule over without any competition. there are so few other car manufacturer making hybrid even now.
If G want to have a short to medium-term green/fuel-efficient car policy , they should give every support to diesel coz that the real thing that is ready now. hybrid, electric etc is a long long way for the world, more so for Malaysian to actually able to buy them; they are not affordable to the masses. And who are this budget policy created for? The masses, rite? dol..
Beside, hybrid car isn’t THAT fuel-effcient after all. Top Gear, the show, using simple stupid demo proved this.
this budget is for 2009 (next few months only), so plan it like its for 2009 lah, sikit-sikit for future okay, but if G categorise the hybrid thing as for future, is so weak and not thought adequately. Clearly, the caveat (only effective in 2 years bla 3x) is a coercion tactic that might not work. G shouldn’t choose what fuel technology for malaysia car in the future, G should embrace all of them and let market (i.e. demand n supply) decide. why must G susah2? Past the bucket to the market and free the G from the huge commitment.
in summary, the feelings over the items for auto industry in the Budget is the same like the overall feelings felt on the Budget 2009 as a whole…..
Disappointed. If G want the truth lah.
If not than I say this Budget is very good lah .. good expensionary budget. care the people. nite..
I agree with you that hybrids AREN’T that fuel efficient. Electricity ain’t free. The battery needs charging from the engine. I really don’t know what this hype on hybrid’s all about. I’ll pick a good diesel over a hybrid any day.
Agreed…Diesel is for real world…this hybrid is just hollywood hype…
Woo, Civic hybrid at RM100k, I sure will buy it, plus it is green car too…
“hybrid cars…..not rubbish. proton cars….rubbish.”
still people harp on hybrids.. for you guys, you are just as bad and ill-informed as our govt with all things automotive.
hybrids are definitely not the way ahead. diesel is still our best bet. we need up-to-date diesel, which in turn will encourage more diesel cars into the market.
diesels are proven more efficient/economical, greener, and cheaper to run in the long term. you also dont get penalised on power output with diesels for fuel efficiency.
btw, if that statement above is true, all other cars, and not just proton are rubbish, coz even bmw and mercedes dont have a hybrid…etc.
Just checked in honda malaysia’s website.
It said – civic hybrid – revised price coming soon.
If the price is similar to Langkawi’s 100K or Labuan’s 104K, I’ll definite grab it.
BanyakMasukWorkshop said,
September 2, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
“hybrid cars…..not rubbish. proton cars….rubbish.”
still people harp on hybrids.. for you guys, you are just as bad and ill-informed as our govt with all things automotive.
hybrids are definitely not the way ahead. diesel is still our best bet. we need up-to-date diesel, which in turn will encourage more diesel cars into the market.
diesels are proven more efficient/economical, greener, and cheaper to run in the long term. you also dont get penalised on power output with diesels for fuel efficiency.
btw, if that statement above is true, all other cars, and not just proton are rubbish, coz even bmw and mercedes dont have a hybrid…etc.
the way foward is either diesel hybrids or hydrogen.
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niomr1 said,
September 9, 2008 @ 8:39 am
Just checked in honda malaysia’s website.
It said – civic hybrid – revised price coming soon.
If the price is similar to Langkawi’s 100K or Labuan’s 104K, I’ll definite grab it.
definitely.
The Prius is estimated to be at the Camry 2.4V price – RM 170,000 even with the "abolishing of 100% import duty and 50% excise duty for hybrid cars imported by franchise holders with engine displacements lower than 2,000cc.
I wonder how true this is once Toyota launches the 3G Prius here. Cannot wait to see how much the price is.