The Malaysian Govt recent announced the much awaited National Automotive Policy. This is the new policy to be introduced since 2009. It appears that nothing much has changed and protecting the local automotive industry has done nothing for improving the country's automotive industry.
The 2014 policy saw the removal of the tax exemption for imported Hybrid vehicles and the government back tracking on its pledge to remove the APs (approved permits) for importation of cars at the end of 2015. As expected the policy is geared toward protecting Proton and the companies linked to the Government leaving the man on the street to bear the high cost of car ownership.
During the announcement several top management executives from major car companies were seen cringing and make statements such as "Unbelievable!" due to their frustration. It is evident that the policy has only benefited a very select few and the rest are left to work within the framework. Frustrating as it may be there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the Malaysian automotive industry. The policies so far has yielded insignificant levels of investment from foreign car makers and many have opted to focus their investments in neighouring countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.
The recent KL International motorshow was a good example of the state of affairs for the Malaysian automotive industry. The government claims that they cannot lower the taxes of the cars due to the fact that the Government is in need of money. Heavily taxing the cars only causes more financial burden on the public and in a country where public transport is not well planned and inefficient buying a car is a necessity.
Now there is rumour that the government will revoke the fuel subsidy for people with a certain level of income and provide the subsidy for the poor. this is again open to abuse and cannot be adequately policed effectively.
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