It's being taxed alright... A LOT! The reason is that we have two local car manufacturers, and the government's favourite, Proton, can't make a car worth buying. So the government resorts to taxing all foreign-made cars so much that we have no choice but to buy the deathtraps that Proton makes. Forget about ABS, EBS, TCS, etc. Even dual-airbags are still not standard features in Proton cars!!! For what you paid for your wife's Nissan 370Z, we can only buy a lower-spec'ed Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. Proton's "ultimate" model (the best you can buy), the Proton Perdana, in comparison, only costs about US$ 30,000. So it's not surprising that many Malaysians are forced to buy Proton cars.... This is a great example of how to use taxes to keep a badly managed company afloat...
I have heard alot of chatter from ARP in regards to Proton. A similar government plan squeezing consumers to by "domestic" used to be here in US during the 70's. The overseas automakers found a way around it by shipping in all the parts and assemling the cars here. Less taxes PLUS now it's "made in USA" Humbug! I say let the people buy what they want and tax it fairly. Camry, Accord??? Speaking of Camry, did you hear about the Toyota recall on many millions of cars due to sticking accelerator? BleH! What about others like Suzuki or Korean auto lines, i.e. Hyundai, KIA? Kinda considered "junk" here.
Hehe.. I agree. But the government's also pushing down Perodua in favour of Proton by insisting on a higher interest rate for their hire-purchase loans.
You can bring in parts and assemble the cars over here. Honda does it. They call them CKD (Completely Knocked Down) cars, while the fully-imported cars are CBU (Completely Built Units). However, the government imposes high taxes and stamp duty on all non-national makes, so "national" car companies like Proton and Perodua have a price advantage over non-national car companies. You can reduce cost by assembling the cars locally, but you will still be at a disadvantage. For example, Honda assembles their cars locally in Melaka, but their cars are still priced similarly to Toyota vehicles which are assembled in Thailand. Both Honda and Toyota cars are very much more expensive than Proton cars. Just to give you an example, here are the prices of roughly equivalent Honda, Toyota and Proton sedans with 2.0L engines : Honda Accord : RM 142K (low spec) - 150K (high spec) Toyota Camry : RM 145K (low spec) - 155K (high spec) Proton Perdana : RM 101.5K (but you can get it at about RM 95K with discounts) So generally, even Japanese cars manufactured within ASEAN (lower tariffs) will cost about 50% more than "national" cars.
Hahaha I read it in quite a few places, even go as far as stopping production. But what I'm surprised at is that Camry is the best selling car at the States, always thought it would be a Dodge or Ford or something.
Its affordable. The last I check, it is cheaper than an Accord by $2000. Well, now we know why they are cheaper, quality drop. And I heard from another forum, there are Toyota built at Subaru factories (US).
Haha. Indeed Psy! That's one nice present man. Showed Leian too and she said, you've set the bar. And I told her, it's alright. Cos I can enjoy the car too!
Yeah, the Camry is contracted out to Subaru (which Toyota has a stake in anyways). I think they isolated the problem to a vendor part already. Not to sound like a Toyota fan (I'm more of a Nissan/Infiniti person) but I think Toyota has done the right thing. No matter the financial or PR impact, they put customer safety first. Would other car companies do the same? (Ford didn't on the Explorer and Firestone as well as the Pinto). But we are going off topic.
People here have been complaining it took them too long. Apparently, this has happened like 2-3 years or so but they did not to a recall until now. Talking about that, Jazz/Fit is having a recall now about their window switch problem right after an incident.
Not sure about the "best selling" numbers but the problem in USA is the Labour Unions. They outprice themselves and their job. Main reason for GM to have to take loans from gov't. TOyota, Hyundai, etc... has no union influence so can sell comparable cars for $2000 cheaper despite tarrifs and import fees. American cars are not what they used to be but they are coming back... especially Ford. I like GM personally, but I say it is survival of the fittest, and if that means Proton is #1 in USA so be it!
Yeah, and it looks like not only do they have problems with the pedal, they also have possible problems with the brakes in the Prius and "possibly" some issues with the electronic throttle controls.
The Ford Focus looks real nice... but the price tag is pretty stiff... The sedan costs something like RM 120K (US$ 36.4K). It's not a bad deal for a fully imported model and is probably a ton better than the Proton Perdana, but it's not something everyone here can afford.