Why My Car Is REALLY Expensive?

First, just to be clear, as an environmentalist, I have no car. More cars on the road, means that more trees will be chopped down, so that we can have papers to print our money, so, no car for me. So, this writing ain't about me, it's about you, yes, you stolid people that had spent thousands of ringgit on buying a piece of moving metal. And of course, on top of your "investment" for that piece of junk, a part of your money was channeled to the government as a contribution from a devoted nation-loving citizen.

Before you move on to spend your time illicitly at work to read this, I would like you to know that this article has no moral value whatsoever, been written by a person that had just woke up from his sleep at 12 noon, wearing only boxer shorts while sipping green tea with his unbrush teeth.

So, now, the issue is... ha! before that, have a look here first.

This table is for illustration purpose only, it have no connection with  previous nor the paragraph after this (and frankly, I have no idea why I want it to be here). But, yes, this is the current price (±)

Okay, back to the issue, in the past few months, some party (read : people) had been asking the government to lower down all those taxes for vehicles so that Malaysian can cruise the road gracefully with imported cars rather than a proton with dysfunctional driver's power window and lock-from-the-inside central-locking system. But, despite the government's (Read : Barisan Nasional) unpredictable future either winning or changing their seats in the parliament after the next General Election, the motion had been rejected, though the fact is, by lowering the price of vehicles, at least, Barisan's popularity can increase by 50% (source: Political Analyst, Qusyairi Hashim).



So, what's with the high price? There's only one answer, PROTON. But before you started to say that it's selfish to increase the price on all vehicles just for one corporation, you need to realize that PROTON is no BMW, it's not owned nor founded privately, it's owned by you and me, it's our company.

Being founded in 1983 with its first model, the Proton Saga (1985), PROTON aims to ensure that each and every Malaysian  can afford the luxury of having their own car. So, what will happen if the taxes on imported cars lifted?

Before that, referring to the list of Camry's prices above, please don't ask our government to offer prices like those in US or Saudi. In the US, their population is 315 millions, so, the market is wide, more cars produced, price lower, basic microeconomics. And in Saudi, well, they're effing rich with gas, so, its a different story.

So, let's compare the price with Japan, referring to the price list above, a Camry in Japan will cost about 40K cheaper compared to Malaysia. And let's ignore the fact that they're the one that produced the car, let say they don't (just for the sake of the discussion). Ha, one more, before someone ask me why in United States, the price is far cheaper than Japan, this is because, 50% of Camry were sold in US whereas, the Japanese market only contributed 1% of it.

Okay, now directly to the issue, no more diversion, let say, our price is the same as in Japan, for sure people will opted for the Camry rather than a Perdana nor a High-Line Inspira (on which, the cars have almost the same price). What will happen with PROTON then? Less sales means that lesser profit, lesser profit will bring to lesser capital funds, lesser capital funds will cause lesser R&D allocation, lesser R&D allocation will cause lesser R&D (for sure, right?), lesser R&D will cause lesser development, lesser development will cause PROTON unable to have a research on a more economical yet powerful car, thus, will bring to the shutting down of PROTON.

Companies goes bankrupt everyday, so what is the big deal, PROTON closed, we say bye-bye to them, and off we go to the nearest Honda, Toyota or Mercedez dealers to get our new car, its a non-issue....on the surface.

But try to look deeply,  if PROTON failed, (let say before 2012), Khazanah Nasional will be losing a lot of money, and we need to remember, Khazanah Nasional is not owned by Warren Buffett, instead, it is an investment company owned by the government, any losses incurred by the company will hit our industries and us as the citizens. And even after Khazanah Nasional sells its shares to DRB-Hicom, you need to remember, that Khazanah Nasional also holds shares in DRB-Hicom. So, it's a chain reaction, PROTON falls, Khazanah affected, Khazanah can't be investing in a promising area, and before you knew it, we're just like our neighbors in Cambodia, flocks of foreigners coming in, bossing us around in our own country, and us being paid with money that will be enough for us to have foods on our table only.

That is one thing, the other thing is, if, we no longer have PROTON, then, I can say, the cheapest car on the market will be the Toyota Vios, on which, in Japan, will cause you around RM 50K. Yes, 50K is not really expensive for you if you're a working executive that have monthly salary of RM 2500 and living alone. But, how about the ones getting lesser, with family to take care off? Inevitably, you'll be seeing elders that can hardly walk, waiting at the bus station with their son, to go to the nearest clinic for their insulin injection. Remember, not everyone is as rich as you are, or even as fortunate as you are to be getting a formal tertiary education that can guarantee their life.

And, above all reason, here comes the cliche (not related to PROTON), without the taxes, our country will go bankrupt. Of course la, here you're asking for the reduction of cars' prices (government's money - Out) then, you asked to increase the subsidy for gas (government's money - out), and when big corporation such as the gold processing in Raub or even Lynas want to operate in Malaysia (okay,this starting to get a bit politically-inclined), you asked them to go out also (government's money - not increasing), and not to forget, the free education (government's money - out) for our students (actually, the total cost of a degree in the US can reach to USD 500,00, but in Malaysia, you can get a law degree in IPTA just by paying 28,000 to PTPTN). So, in a nutshell, asking for cheaper cars, free education, becoming paranoid over an environment disaster that almost impossible to happen (refer here), is an act of selfishness. Yes, we might be happy for a couple of years, but think about our next generation, where our beloved maggi-mee will be made by Americans, our Bata shoes crafted by the Chinese and Yusmira Pati Halia replaced with Alex Hughes Magic Ginger Cream. This is not over-reacting, but such manifestos and ideas can put Malaysia in the same level as Rome, not the one that people are afraid of, but the one that people remembered as a place with the destroyed Colosseum.