Those expecting for the hike in car prices to be limited to the same 2% SST rise are likely to be fantastically optimistic too.
With the incoming 2% increase in service tax (from 6% to 8%) soon to arrive on March 1st, a lot of things in Malaysia are soon to get much more expensive. And cars are unfortunately not to be the exception, especially with Sime Darby Motors having hinted already that it might be raising the prices of its offerings, in tandem with the overall rising cost of doing business.
More worryingly too is that while the tax rate increase is to be 2%, the hike in car prices may not be limited to that. Such is as hinted recently by Sime Darby group CEO Datuk Jeffri Salim Davidson regarding this subject, “the increase won’t be a flat 2% as there are many factors involved”.
“In theory, yes [car prices will increase]. But the car price is set depending on competition, so it won’t exactly be 2%. And then we have other factors that come into play. So, it’s difficult to say exactly that car prices will go up by 2%,” he further reiterated on this matter, as reported by The Edge.
Now of course with that statement, optimists could potentially infer for the price hikes at Sime Darby Motors may not even reach as high as 2%. Though realists would likely point to the scale of price rises for everything in general these past months, and make the reasonable assumption for the increase in car prices to likely not be limited to the aforementioned 2%.
What more is that with Sime Darby Motors being a juggernaut in the local automotive space — this auto conglomerate is after all a distributor and/or dealer of marques such as BMW, BYD, Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar, Land Rover, MINI, Volvo and Porsche, not to mention too a recent majority shareholder of UMW Toyota – it is therefore all but expected for other marques to follow suit in similarly hiking their car prices.
Add to that too the similarly raised prices in vehicle servicing from the tax rise on labour charges, not to mention the potential removal of fuel subsidies as well, and car ownership in Malaysia is looking to be a more expensive endeavour from March 2024 onwards…
