MAA hopes for excise duty extension

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) is hopeful that the Government will extend the excise duty exemption period for locally-assembled hybrid and electric cars in Budget 2015.

“What the MAA is requesting is for the time period (for the tax exemption) to be longer so that it can be more viable,” MAA president Datuk Aishah Ahmad told StarBiz.

Under the National Automotive Policy (NAP), which was announced in January, the excise duty exemption is only given to locally-assembled or completely-knocked-down (CKD) hybrid and electric cars. The exemption for hybrids will end on Dec 31, 2015 and for electric cars on Dec 31, 2017.

Apart from extending the tax exemption period, Aishah said she was hopeful that there would be incentives to promote electric vehicle-related infrastructure, such as the setting up of more charging stations and also a reduction in battery cost.

Budget 2015 will be tabled on Friday.

Separately, Aishah said she was optimistic about vehicle sales for the rest of the year despite the recent hike in fuel price, adding that sales would be boosted by the recent launch of Perodua Axia and Proton Iriz.

“The Axia and Iris will have a strong following. Fuel price may have increased but these are small and economical cars. In fact, the fuel price hike will actually benefit Perodua and Proton,” she said.

According to reports, the recently launched Perodua Axia has received over 20,000 orders since bookings were opened for the vehicle on Aug 15.

Powered by a 1-litre aluminium engine, it is priced from RM24,600 to RM42,530 (Peninsular Malaysia).

The Iriz, available with 1.3-litre and 1.6-litre engines, had received 17,000 bookings prior to its launch on Sept 25, according to reports.

On-the-road prices start from RM42,438 and the highest grade variant retails at RM62,888.

Last week, the price of RON95 petrol and diesel was raised by 20 sen per litre to RM2.30 and RM2.20, respectively.

According to MAA statistics, positive sentiment helped boost vehicle sales in August to 51,125 units from 51,106 units in the previous corresponding period.

Year-to-date August sales rose 2.7% to 444,534 units compared with 433,025 units a year earlier.

In July, MAA raised its total industry volume forecast for 2014 to 680,000 units from 670,000.

It expects the higher sales to be boosted by continued positive demand from consumers and aggressive promotional campaigns by car companies.