Since the start of the government's 15 year old auto scrapping policy, again another move to 'help' our dear old local car manufacturers in double standard manners.Aside from taxing foreign imported cars 300% (Mind you, the RM240,000 BMW you bought, RM160,000 went to the government, whereas the RM80,000 are what our dear old Nazis receive, for the 6 airbags, quality, handling and every other nights of unidentified women on bed you manage to get with your propeller car), they're now subsidizing RM5,000 for 15 year old cars traded in to get a new Proton or Perodua.
Funny thou, there's also Naza, a local manufacturer, Honda with their local plant in Malacca - Yeap. Not subsidized at all. Now, RM5,000 for a 15 year old car? Let's see, that includes the Ferrari 355, the first, second generation Golf GTi, and the fanfuckingtastic Mercedes SL 300 for instance, not to mention the extremely rare BMW 850 and nonetheless this Volkswagen Corrado.
Well of course the government would argue that many countries do offer such subsidies to their local manufacturers, for instance Germany, which recorded a 21% increase in year on year sales since they started the auto scrapping policy (for any second hand car) that receives subsidies from government close to 10,000 euros to trigger the automotive market (Any brand). The difference however, is of course firstly, they're looking at the economy in a macro manner, any foreign car brand, which directly or indirectly, if they operate within that country, there would be networks of dealers, suppliers of all sorts, advertisers etc that would be benefited from this scheme. Not just a handful of manufacturers with close links to the government.
Moreover, as we can see, giving out walking sticks to babies since they're young would definitely render them having less stronger legs. Since the inception of our dear old Proton and Perodua, the government, given the usual short sightedness of their policies, had always try in one way or another to protect them, yes, there are noticeable improvements, but given the market they're in and the environment from a more macro-istic point of view, it's far from enough. In fact without protection, they would immediately be rendered irrelevant. Think RM50,000 Vios.
Now, is a time where consumers are looking more into price, than value. Which means the number of cup holders, airbags or brand snobbishness would come second to price, and the perceive cost savings involved in making a vehicle purchase (service, durability, reliability etc); given the recent downturn, the high taxes imposed on foreign vehicles would have already been enough to turn buyers towards local cars. Further subsidy from the government, would meant indirectly taking money from all 27 million Malaysians, funneling them into helping 2 local companies into racking up more sales - Jobs get done easier, the walking stick now evolves into a wheel chair - Stronger legs? Dream on.
What should the government do then? Well, if they weren't so busy arguing over parliamentary seats, or somehow UFOs came abducting opposition parliamentary representatives, disappearing overnight for a few days, only to come back and resign after being threatened with intergalactic laser cannons, perhaps they can sit down and think of policies that would otherwise benefit the industry, and the economy, of which at the same time prepares this nation better to compete in the international arena.
How? Create competition, then you get asses moving faster. If they're gonna use subsidies, why not encourage new upstarts of local car manufacturing? Like Naza, they too manufacture vehicles, why not jab in a strong dose of adrenalin and get them to compete full on with Proton and Perodua? How about public transports? This is also a good way to let manufacturers understand their final aim should always be exporting to other nations. If Procter and Gamble's only aim were to sell shampoos to their employees, they wouldn't have been what they are today. Same goes, a country, in a macro manner, is like a company, you want to sell to others; thus public transport systems are also one venerable competitor to local car manufacturers.
As we know, veins that deliver the country's blood vessels are more jammed up than ever, if ever there are statistics showing how many millions of gallons of petroleum evaporated into thin air every morning and evening during rush hour, that should get us worrying. Well perhaps they seem content with giving out exclusive contracts to companies building new highways every month or two, taxxing the locals even further in the nation's heart. Moreover, highway building meant there should be no escape to secure income, thus by bridging point A to point B, they killed everyone who's trying to move from point C to point D, which in fact, C and D could've just be separated by the 3 lane highways. This is never the solution, in fact it's an inward spiral that would definitely strangle the country itself, remember, highways are never public transport friendly, the more you build, the more deadlock the city will be with growing population and growing numbers of car buying.
If someone would've traveled down to Singapore, sitting in one of the local transit hubs of their public transport system and observing at things happening around from a sociological perspective, one would notice the vast buying power and economic activities being taken place in plenty of these hubs every morning, millions pouring into bus stations, MRT stations, where local shop owners would get traffic, merchants started trading. Economic activities starts generating value and income, right early in the morning - Whereas we fellow Malaysians were all stuck in traffic, burning gasoline, where it could've been a wonderful source of income for us to export them, and use the money for public transport improvements.
Yeah, donkeys would argue Malaysia's huge. My arse, who needs connecting commuters to the National parks? Kuala Lumpur's so small that CNN weather reports didn't even realized this city exists, and Penang's even smaller, Ipoh's dead and Johor Bahru only needs the bridge to Singapore for morning commutes.
Sit down and start working the country with your brains, yes I know its small, but it should be enough for this small country.
P.S 10 years back, Hyundai and Kia produces cars no way better than Proton. Now they're the 5th largest car manufacturer, bigger than Honda. If they're adamant with their local Korean kimchis, they wouldn't have taste how good Big Apple is.
