Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow has justified the state government’s recent RM3.31 million purchase of 15 XV80 Toyota Camry 2.5V sedans for use by the administration, the New Straits Times reports.
He said the ninth-gen Camry vehicles were acquired to reduce maintenance costs, because it was widely recognised that vehicles older than five years with high mileage could pose safety concerns and cost more to maintain. “The state replaces official vehicles every six years to reduce the rising cost of maintenance,” he said during his winding-up speech at the state legislative assembly earlier today.
He said the previous batch of 15 eight-gen Camry 2.5Vs was purchased in 2019, and that the practice of replacing official vehicles every six years began in 2013, when the state government purchased 15 units of the seventh-gen XV50 Camry to replace the previous fleet of Mercedes-Benz and Proton Perdana cars.
Chow said that maintenance costs for the outgoing Camry fleet had risen significantly. “On average, maintenance for each vehicle assigned to exco members and officers has reached RM42,144 due to wear-and-tear repairs. In total, the state has spent nearly RM650,000 on maintaining these vehicles,” he explained.
Despite this, the older Camry fleet has been retained. “The previous vehicles are still in use, kept in a pool for officers as needed,” he said. However, Chow said that even with the pooled cars, there were still not enough vehicles to meet demand.
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They should buy a bunch of Proton X90 instead of that overpriced and underspec camry. Kata nak sapot local? Lmao
sadly X90 might not reduce maintenance cost. e-Mas 7 maybe
Proton s70 is more than good enough for these incompetent fat asses
When DAP was in opposition,they hantam the govt left right centre.
Now they r part of Madani govt,it is perfectly ok to buy Camrys.And worst still Guan Eng revealed Penang govt borrowed from federal govt.
In future there should be regulations that those vehicles should not exceed 100k.
Quite shameful for politicians to have triple standards.
Like throwing taxpayers hard earned money into money pits.
Today everywhere title must put and show. Car got badges title, name got title, clothes wear title, name in reserve table sign got title, father name in children school book also put full title, alang alang when die grave tomb stone also bring along title, badge and star put on top and show right. Just another average joe joke.
pandainye.
Nabeh, you show us the maintenance cost comparison. Then I’ll show you the maintenance cost from Toyota and we’ll then question why your numbers are higher
✅ Summary
Toyota Camry 2025: Offers a premium driving experience with higher maintenance costs, averaging around RM14,000–RM16,000 over 5 years.
Proton X70: Provides a more budget-friendly maintenance profile, with costs around RM4,897–RM5,200 over the same period.
If minimizing maintenance expenses is a priority, the Proton X70 presents a more economical choice over the 2025 Toyota Camry.
everybody know Proton a.k.a China DNA car have bad quality
Are you sure? X70 maintenance is the highest of all
How do you compare a D segment sedan to a C segment SUV? It is not an apple to apple comparison.
Its getting expensive to run so lets spend millions to buy new fleet, maintain this new fleet and at the same time maintain the already high maintenance older Camry. This is amazing logic, superb, excellent.
Heck, some of their XV50 fleet still rolling around
after 5 yrs pose safety concerns? …meanwhile rakyat are using their camry past 7 yrs are going ‘whaa…t’?
have you tried sending the car to 3rd party service centre? pick reliable ones la…or you are saying there’s no reliable ones that everyone else has been using past 5 yrs cars.
Why spend over RM200k per vehicle? If want Toyota, just get Corolla Altis enough already…15 cars, the difference amounts to a lot
RM42k per car for 5 years? i think that is not very high maintenance. if it is RM42k per month, MACC please investigate. unlikely averaging to RM2k per month since day 1 it is bought.
yest not too high but remember the cost paid by duit rakyat not from their pocket
Wait. In total RM 650,000 for repair and maintenance? So if you divide by 5 years and divide into 15 cars, that’s RM 8,700 per year for each car. If you mention that the upkeeping cost is rising, then why still buying Toyota, of which the price of Camry ain’t going to be cheap? You didn’t mention the average mileage of all 15 fleet, so how to derive from the conclusion? Numbers doesn’t make sense.
Crook always find a way to lying
In Penang, crooks are in the state govt while in the stat prison houses the desperate and poor.
nak save maintenance cost, why not just pick Honda City or Proton S70 je?
Alaa, Kedah gomen pon beli Camry baru tak bising pon.
Yes but only bought 1 unit Hyundai to replace 2 units 2012 & 2014 Benz. Still some people find this unacceptable. But to buy 15 units new camry to replace fleet on 2020 camry due to high maintenance reason but suddenly informed still maintained the 2020 camry fleet that you just informed it is high maintenance from the old fleet is the reason u bought new camry. It is more than unacceptable. Is completely BS. I also now speechless on this logic.
All sorts of excuses. Nak kereta baru, tak payah bagi alasan pusing pusing. Buy new cheaper is it?! What kind of logic is this?
If they buy with their own money…then perhaps different story dy. It’s not like the new cars were bought with their own money, but taxpayers money!
Ops… thought he is of better quality leader. Tapi…. malangnye sama jugak same tiger spots. Haha.
Mazda 6, altho older design has a 5year free service and warranty program, with 2.0 only at rm180k. even better, since penang so small a COUNTRY, just buy the proton Emas at rm120k with lower maintenance cost. Penang state no need to use car out of Penang leh so WLTP doesnt even matter, basically driving from home to office only. Also what about the older fleet, can trade in or just give out for free ?
Give what? Take home la…
Lol
total BS
They’re using the same excuses as those they criticized before.
Want to reduce costs my ass.
This leeches should use Saga or Bezza instead.
If one is so concern about maintenance cost why not change it to EV since to every mindset assumption on EV is piratically very low.
If we consider other states changing Mercedes then maybe this is a better deal of gaya however it still defeats the purpose of maintenance.
ev tyre is a killer though.
Translation :
We spent RM 650k maintaining RM 3 mil worth of cars over 5 years, presumably to extend their longevity, and decided it’s cheaper and logical to spend another RM 3 mil to buy new cars. Also, we’re keeping the old cars even though we said they are too expensive to keep anymore. Also, we are broke and we don’t understand why.
And Chow, RM 650k over five years equates to RM 10k per year per car. What did you do, service them monthly and drove them to the moon?
If maintenance of car carried out accordingly, there won’t be any issues after 5 years. Unacceptable reasons given by the CM. Why not use Proton S70?
so the solution is to spent RM3.31 mil on 15 new 2.5 camrys? wow
Buy bew car for exco while ask for advancement from federal to ryn a gov. Pathetic
Good to listen to advice of chartered accountant recommended buying toyota analogue car the world most reliable car with best resale value LOL
3.3m for 15 units, each 220k, 1 question, since when govt purchased stuffs with full price with tax included? anyone smells something weird?