Tuesday, May 12, 2009

How Much Is That Car In The Window?




Every time I am in Sydney, I never fail to compare car prices here with the ones we pay back home. Cringe worthy ... it also helps to explain why so many expats in Malaysia end up driving beaten down pathetic cars because they just could not allow themselves to pay such exorbitant prices for the cars in Malaysia.

I am looking at the papers now and saw that one can drive away with Bentley Continental Flying Spur, its in silver tempest, and even though its a demonstrator, I think its exceptional at A$339,950 (RM850,000).... or you can opt for the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe for just A$288,888 (RM740,000).

OK, lets bring things down to earth. The new 2009 Special Edition Toyota Camry Touring, drive away at A$29,990 (RM75,000)... do you want to cry now??? Oh, it also comes with 17" alloys, rear lip spoiler, dual zone aircon and ta-dah... a 6 disc CD changer.

Let me browse some more, a new Honda CRV Sport goes for A$39,990 (RM100,000). Aaah.. they have a small promotion on Volvo cars: you can drive away a new Volvo XC70 for A$60,000; an S80 for A$74,000; or and XC90 for A$72,000. Just multiply by 2.5x.

Even the starter Porsche Boxster, brand new is going for just A$113,000!!!

I have mentioned this many times, how much longer do we need to subsidise the Protons and Peroduas. Look at the average per capita of Malaysians, and how much of our spending power has been going down the drain thanks to that one item... CARS!!! You get developed countries with 3x or 4x our per capita income paying about 40% cheaper for car prices - mana kepala hotak engkau???.. Its a hugely inefficient allocation of resources. I don't mind supporting our local industries for a few years to get them to grow up strong... but gawd... how many fucking years NOW, 15??? 20??? A whole generation has been basically GIVING money to Proton and Perodua... do it this way... JUST TAKE THE DEDUCTION FROM OUR PAY PACKET instead, why bother???



p/s photos: Angelababy










14 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh no now you are making me cry!

shadowz said...

Between one solid red hot tip of a 1000% overnite profit stock and this Angelababy..

I pick her..no doubt about it.

Best call ever Dali..hehehehe

Unknown said...

have you ever considered making the move down under then?

cuz surely by now you'll realise that some things may probably not change in your lifetime!!

Leonard said...

Hi !

Are you not happy with Proton ?

Greetings:)

random said...

hows the holiday so far? bila balik?

mambo said...

for argument sake, how about they have higher individual tax rate? i know i know, but for argument sake.

solomon said...

Similar like a house in the cities, a car is the second highest liabilities in a worker. Still puzzle, why u had Ford as yr portfolio, recovery play or buffett investment?

Making an affordable price for house and car would definite help the young lads who starts off in working life. They could use the savings for a trip like you to Sydney.

While no hope for quick reduction in corporate and personal income tax, I believe it is good to adjust the car price before the oil price shoot up again. While saying so, this will be bloody blows for those who own and still paying the expensive one.

I cann't wait to see a normal IT programmer driving a Ferrari to work (Not the crook who appears in TV3). However, this is already a fact in some of the countries.

Eric How, said...

Tear in my eyes for years about "harga kereta" thing in "our"#1 bolehland here.
You can name it tons of reason for our "pride" #2 to continue their car. Secure Job la, Tech upgrade la, Name la, banyak-banyak lagi.....
For me I think, Selfish is the root for all this shit!



#1 "our" - I wish......
#2 "pride" - Shame maybe?

Jimmy Tham said...

Honda was running a promotion 2 months ago =)

1.8l Honda Civic drive away price at $27k

iamyuanwu said...

huevoscocodrilo,
If you need to ask, you've never driven a Proton before.
And probably not living in Msia?
=)

K H said...

Given Malaysian love for cars, the roads will be in a gridlock in no time if cars are sold "cheap". The public transport systems should be efficient first before any major adjustments in car pricing - something I don't think will happen in most of our lifetime.

qlobetrotter said...

Hi Dali,
I think it is a form of myoptic "enslavement" that we have to pay such high prices. In the greater conspiracy theory, I believe it is to check the spending of Malaysians as we all know that we all aspire to drive a car (a good one if at all possible). Imagine if the money we save we use it to exchange for US$. Ringgit will be dead in the waterlah!
Anyway, I really enjoy your articles.
regards
qlobe

Eric How, said...

hey huevoscocodrilo,

Are you from other region? like Thailand or something like that?

Case study here.

New 2009 Special Edition Toyota Camry Touring, drive away at A$29,990 (RM75,000), but M'sia here cost you rm180K (estimation)

It's that cool?

Unknown said...

i'd cry when see the prices of cars in US. honda civic is USD16k, i like WTF??? bmw 328i is 33k? that's just the price of a civic here? are u f**king me?

but then again, is malaysian ready to pay market price fuel too?