Archive for Cars

Proton M.D. Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir told press today that Proton would be reducing the prices of it’s cars across the board by 2% to 5%. Proton also aims to increase it’s local market share from 41.4% currently to 45.8% by the end of the financial year March 31 2007.

The new prices will see cars like Waja 1.6 Campro (A) being sold at RM60,700, Perdana V6 at RM106,888, Gen2 1.6 (A) at RM55,641 and the Proton Savvy 1.2 at RM42,916.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also said today that the government was developing a new set of policies consistent with World Trade Organisation rules and regulations to continue supporting Proton. However he said Proton cannot expect to operate in a shielded environment forever and must undertake internal measures to improve the company’s competitiveness in the increasingly open market.

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A report by New Straits Times says Proton expects to launch a new model in April. This could most likely be the SRM as I don’t think there’s any possibility of a Perdana based on the Mitsubishi 380 to be launched in such a short time frame. If you read the article, you would notice the bad reporting by the journalist, who said the Proton Savvy uses a Campro engine. Journalists should really do their homework.

Here are the new National Automotive Policy tax rates as of 22nd March 2006.

Click here to read the rest of NAP Tax Rates

The Government had never supported us and did not give us a chance. It must assist us now and I hope that it will be done.

The above line was quoted by PEKEMA president Datuk Abdul Hamid Ibrahim. PEKEMA (Malay Automobile Importers and Distributors of Malaysia). The cartell of car importers who have Open APs. Note that APs are illegal by World Trade Organisation rules. I am filing this post under the “Laughs” category.

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The new National Automotive Policy was released on the 22nd of March 2006. We’ve waited in anticipation for it for quite some time now. Most of us are primarily concerned on how it will affect us as consumers. Are our cars going to cost more or less now, and where are they going to come from, for those who prefer CBU models.

Click here to read the rest of Thoughts on the National Automotive Policy

With the new tax structures and policies of the National Automotive Policy, Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) announced price cuts of between RM800 to RM1500 per vehicle, which translates to about 2% to 3% off the pre-NAP sticker price. This excludes two of the Perodua Kancil models which has already very thin profit margins, so prices could not be slashed further. These two models without price cuts are the 660cc manual and 850cc manual models.

We’ve just seen one of the first effects of the new National Automotive Policy. UMW has just announced it’s passanger cars will be cheaper by 5.6% to 11% with the new tax structure, however MPVs like the Toyota Avanza and the Toyota Innova will be more expensive from now on.

The Toyota VIOS will be 5.6% cheaper, while the Toyota Corolla Altis will be 7% cheaper. Commercial vehicles like the Toyota Hiace and the Toyota Hilux prices will not be affected.

UMW shares rose 30 sen to RM7.55 today. UMW’s 38% stake in Perodua will enable it to participate in the incentives for local car manufacturers. Lower Toyota car prices are also expected to boost sales for the non-national car market.

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You will find after the jump the full text of the new National Automotive Policy, reproduced verbatim. Have had no time to read through it in full yet. Will post about it tonight. For now, it’s off to dinner. Enjoy.

Click here to read the rest of Malaysia National Automotive Policy

This just in.

• The government will progressively phase out the Approved Permits system, with complete abolishment by December 2010.
• Import tariffs for ASEAN vehicles under the ASEAN Common Effective Preferential Tariff will be reduced to 5%.

More details later.

A souped up S-class. Sometimes you wonder why such monsters are even made, as the typical owner of a Mercedes Benz S-class would be chauferred around in the back seat instead of driving the car. There’s just not much point to it. But that’s not stopping it to be done. Yup, they do it just because they can, and because people will pay for it. This is the Brabus S V12 S Biturbo, derived from the new 2006 Mercedes Benz S600.

Click here to read the rest of BRABUS S V12 S Biturbo