Now, everyone wants a car

Vehicle sales booming due to tax holiday and festival promotions

PETALING JAYA: Car sales have shot through the roof with Malaysians flocking to showrooms nationwide since the zero-rating of the Goods and Sales Tax (GST) at the start of the month along with Hari Raya promotions.

Sales and bookings have doubled and there is a long waiting list for many models.

Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) president Datuk Aishah Ahmad said car industry players were enjoying brisk sales.

“Most car companies received a lot of bookings and delivery requests before the implementation of the SST (Sales and Service Tax) on Sept 1.

“Car distributors are trying their best to fulfil orders received, pro- vided stocks are available and loans are approved by the banks,” she said.

When asked if the MAA plans to revise the projected total industry volume (TIV) of car sales for this year, Aishah said July 18 was a potential date of the announcement.

It was earlier reported that the TIV for the automotive industry was expected to grow 2.3% to 590,000 units in 2018 compared to 576,635 last year.

Naza Corporation Holdings Automotive Group chief executive officer Datuk Samson Anand George also attributed increased sales to the tax holiday.

“Most of our brands have doubled their bookings and actual sales have also doubled,” he said when contacted.

Salespeople are also reporting this period as their busiest.

A Toyota salesman Evelyn Lee said the number of walk-ins have increased as well.

“On the weekends we can get about 50 walk-ins, with 20 to 30 enquiries.

“A lot of stock was sold off quickly, and many car dealers are now facing a shortage,” said the 49-yearold.

Another salesman working for Volkswagen, Teguh Ady Putra, said sales figures have doubled.

According to a Honda salesman who did not wish to be named, car stocks reserved for the months of June to August have almost completely sold out.

Perodua has reportedly also seen its market share jump to a record 51% in May, according to an industry source.

For consumers, the prospect of getting 6% off gave them the extra push to purchase their dream vehicles now.

Business owner Chung TS, 56, said he had been thinking about replacing his old car over the last two months as the maintenance cost was hiking up.

The three-month tax holiday incentivised him to stop delaying, and he purchased a Toyota Camry.

Besides raking up savings of about RM8,000 due to the zero-rated GST, Chung also enjoyed an additional discount of RM7,000 from the car company as it was selling off its older models.

Writer Rita Kumar managed to convince her father to change her six-year-old Ford when she raised the point about the tax holiday to argue her case.

A woman, who only wanted to be known as Mrs Lee, said: “Previously there was no impetus for us to make a decision on when to purchase a new car.

“But when the GST announcement came, it was ‘easy’ for us to do so,” said the homemaker, who is in her 50s.