At a recent Dewan Negara sitting, it was announced that car prices are down by an average of 16.38% from 2013 to February 2018. According to Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, international trade and industry deputy minister, car prices had also dropped by 0.52% in 2017.
“In 2016, car prices rose by 2.13% due to the depreciation of the ringgit. During the same year, the overall drop in car prices stood at only 12.55%,” Ahmad said when replying to a question from Datuk Yong Wui Chung, as reported by Bernama. Ahmad was asked if the targeted 30% reduction in car prices as promised by the government five years ago could be achieved – referencing BN’s “Menepati Janji Membawa Harapan” manifesto.
While the stated figure (16.38%) isn’t close to the government’s target, the minister cited a number of factors for this, including unfavourable foreign exchange rates and market uncertainty. The latter involves the prices of completely knocked-down (CKD) parts, transportation costs, insurance and loan interest rates.
“The government will continue to discuss with the car manufacturers to ensure affordable price of cars. Some companies are able to reduce car prices through their respective marketing strategies including the introduction of new models and conversion of operations from importation to local installation,” he said, explaining that car prices were not set by the government but was determined by the manufacturers and assemblers.
During the sitting, Ahmad also revealed the prices of several car models have indeed reduced in stages from 2013 to 2017, including the Proton Exora 1.6 (-4.7%), Perodua Alza 1.5 (-11.3%), Perodua Myvi 1.3 (-19.4%), Mazda CX-5 (-6.6%) and Honda Jazz (-19.3%).
However, a quick check on our part revealed quite a bit of discrepancy. For instance, a 2013 Proton Exora 1.6 CFE Standard CVT was priced at RM67,108 OTR without insurance, while the 2018 equivalent, the Exora 1.6 Turbo Exec CVT is selling for RM65,702. No doubt there is a decrease in price (-RM1,405), but the percentage change is only down 2.09% and not 4.7% as claimed.
Moving on to our other national carmaker, the Perodua Alza 1.5S MT in 2013 went for RM51,738 and is priced at RM50,648 in 2018. This represents a 2.11% price drop, which is nowhere near the claimed 11.3%. Should that be the case, an Alza 1.5S MT would theoretically be priced at RM45,892 today.
As for the Perodua Myvi 1.3, a 19.4% drop in price was quoted, which is quite a substantial amount. Based on 2013 prices, a Myvi 1.3 MT went for RM40,650, while the 2018 equivalent, the Myvi 1.3 Standard G MT, is RM44,300. In this case, prices went up by RM3,650, or 8.98% – the opposite of what was claimed. Even so, we did discover reductions further up the list of variants, but again, not up to 19.4%.
A similar example relates to the Mazda CX-5, which is claimed to be 6.6% cheaper, but an apples to apples comparison between the 2013 CX-5 2.0 2WD Mid-spec and 2018 CX-5 2.0 2WD GL shows a RM2,046, or 1.54%, increase instead.
As for the final model cited, the Honda Jazz, the reduction in price is merely RM156, or 0.21%, instead of the 19.3% put forth. We compared the 2013 Jazz 1.5 (RM72,666) and 2018 Jazz 1.5 S (RM72,510) to come to this deduction.
Previously, Berita Harian published a report claiming that car prices have gone down by up to 20.77%, but as we revealed at the time, the new versus old prices in the report were cherry picked for convenience, without taking into account variants and specifications. Based on the old prices we’ve dug up, it appears that car prices have not come down by much in general.
Despite the movement of prices, and there’s no denying a decreasing trend over the years even if it isn’t as much as claimed, car buyers today do benefit from higher levels of equipment than they did five years ago. There have also been legitimate efforts to reduce car prices, with the government handing out CKD EEV and CKD hybrid incentives to various brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Volvo and Honda, among others.
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To boost public transport ridership and cleaner country, Car & motorcycle prices must go up instead of down.
Okay jamal. U daftar nama dlm senarai rakyat yg nak brg mahal….
By compare apel to apel, same spec same grade, if not tell the truth, can it be charge under give FAKE NEWs …?
If only Maslan is telling the truth… I will be very happy.
Car prices are down. why Proton sales oso down
Haiya. Tak close down pun dah kira okay.
Not just down, Proton has no sales if Government orders are stopped.
i tho the preve price just up? lol
P1 sales down bcos of P2.
The Minister says exchange rate is not within our controls, well foreign exchange rates are based on the reputation of a country also.
If all over the world, countries label is as a corrupted country, FDI will reduce and our exchange rate will weaken.
So, we cannot deny, our reputation as a country also determines our exchange rate.
How can Singapore have such a strong exchange rate when Singapore Merdeka same time as Malaysia?
Why does Ahmad Maslan always talk rubbish? Previously GST say prices will DROP, now say car prices have fallen a lot.
Will they remove the excise duties, ever? Since big M increased the price to kill off competition, they have not kept their word and reverted it back to normal. They sold it to Gee*y anyway.
Seriously can we charge him for FAKE NEWS? How does it work, get a petition and send to Parliament or sue?
So Ahmad Maslan should be charged for FAKE NEWs
He said harga barang turun kerana gst, it must be true.
Maslan sembang, gajah terbanngg
Topkek #maslanbingung.gif
The ppl in the ministry does not know in-depth about cars.. I bet they can’t differentiate what is Persona and Iriz.
maybe minister use price with no gst
Then it is a stupid minister because 6% GST is a portion of the price you will be paying.
Unless the minister tells me, GST is an optional item, and you can leave it out from the pricing, then ok la.. if not.. the minister is unfit to be in the parliament.
If car price went down, it’s all because manufacturers force vendors in cutting cost, not because of the effort of gov, miti or whatever.
Honda City dropped from RM90k to RM75k
https://paultan.org/2017/12/20/nap-2014-eev-review-to-be-finalised-next-year-honda-city-price-dropped-from-rm90k-to-rm75k-madani/
Thanks Gerard and PT team for your detective work! Much appreciated!
Wow! Drop by a whopping 16%? Surely must be a magic act from Maslan (the one & only with 3.8 CGPA)..Jangan memporbodohkan rakyat lagi..Maybe he meant up by 16%…
so hj maslan the one with 3.8 cgpa or ahmad the son?
2009 Golf GTI Mk6 rm209888, 2018 Golf GTI Mk7.5 rm239990 =up14%
2013 Golf GTI Mk7 rm217888, 2018 Golf GTI Mk7.5 rm239990 =up10%
2013 BMW M5 rm901800, 2018 BMW M5 rm1000000 =up11%
2007 Civic type R rm199800, 2017 Civic type r rm320000 =up60%
maslan will tell you g30 m5 horsepower increase by 10% compare to f10 m5, so it balances out.
Car prices are not under their control ape bendanya??
Reduce excise tax la!!! Lepas tu reduce number of years for car loan to 5 years la!!! Balance la balik!! At least Takde la rakyat hutang keliling pinggang!! Kalau nak jaga perodua proton jugak, allow these brand to have longer loan period tapi outside brand shorter loan period. Kalau dah rase tak mampu tu come up bigger deposit or use local car la!!
Itu pun nak kena ajar keee??
Agreed 100%
How is that consider down?
In the past pickup trucks only cost at most around 120k for special high end model and goes as low as 60k
Now they are selling more expensive for no reason and put them in the sun category price
How come current Hilux cost more than previous model? Civic, Corolla Altis, Mazda CX5, no 16% reduction?
Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan’s calculator spoil already. don’t blame him, blame his secretary.
of course the car prices are set by government by the high duty. We want same quality car price reduced by 30%. not go talk to the manufacturer to give me a car with 30% cost cutting parts.
GST for cars is calculated based on total cost of car + excise tax + incise tax. If it is not double tax what is this?
Ahmad Maslan?! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha……………………………………..!
Statements from Ahmad Maslan… What do u expect? Fake news it is!
Mana undang undang derita palsu? Mad Maselan buat fitnah dan cerita palsu ni.
Hahahha. Korang percaya ke apa yg dia cakap?
car price down not because of tax reduction, it is because of economy down, car seller forced to drop the pricing.
Do not look just at nominal prices, you need to consider in inflation also. If food increase by 5% and car prices stay the same, that means car prices drop by 5% in REAL terms.
You got a point…please work out the maths with the published inflation rate over the last 5 years using the list of mentioned cars above, and then see if it comes down to 16.38%
Good point, but the minister has to clearly state that MITI’s calculation factors in CPI as well. But then again, if a car buyer’s salary has not increased in parallel with CPI during that period, then he won’t fully realise any car price reduction that factors in CPI.
My 2015 CX5 GL costs me 121k without insurance. Where u got ur figure from?
See..how brilliant are our ministers. Said got 4 flat in uni, but figure in report to Dewan Rakyat copy from Berita Harian. Not correct plak tu. Cerdik takleh tumpang…
Eh boss April fool’s already over leh, why still joking with the Rakyat. Adoiii rasa binggung lah ni
if the import tax can be reduce the price will be decrease. why bother the manufacturer, they distribute the car all over the world with the same price structure. that why we need minister with proper or related industry people to manage the ministry. not just take who ever you like.
Perodua increase 15% from 2013
wa…honda jazz drop rm156 also need to shout about?
crazy fella