Malaysians have been pretty optimistic for the past year about car prices going down eversince the govenment indicated that they have a plan to help turn around the automobile industry in Malaysia. People have been speculating about the plans and what will happen when it is implemented. It's high time that the masses get more choices at better prices.

Cars in Malaysia are too saturated with Proton and I bet almost every driver in the country has driven a Proton at least once in their lifetime. Quality issues and lack of variety and new models have bogged Proton down, even the once-admired Proton Waja is now almost 5 years old (I believe a model's life-cycle shouldn't go beyond 3-4 years, just look at Toyota's Camry, the current one which is 3+ years old is going to replaced by a new model soon). Plus, the launch of affordable models from Honda and particularly Toyota with its Avanza and Innova has crippled Proton even further in terms of market share and profit. In my mind, its about time the anak manja gets some real taste of competition after living in a paradise protected by the big-G.

Anyway, before I get carried away with what-I-don't-like-about-Proton arguments, it's interesting to note that the government had announced the National Automotive Policy last week and since then car prices from several marques have been slashed by up to 10% (Even the price of a Mercedes Benz C180K has been reduced by about Rm20,000, now you know why I put that picture above). An absymal amount but it looks too good to be true, don't you think? There's more to it than cheaper cars..

1. The controversial Approved Permit system we all read, watched and listened to last year (Rafidah winning an Oscar in the Academy Awards for her performance throughout the fiasco), will be phased out in 2010, as it is illegal to do such things under the WTO.
2. Imported second-hand reconditioned cars will be banned from import by 2010. Goodbye to all those nice recond cars in the showrooms which you've been drooling over.
3. Car prices will be gazetted so that tax-underdeclaration will never happen again, just like what happened to Wald Motorsports, when it was discovered that they were not complying to the regulations.
4. Then how about second hand cars in Malaysia? With the substantial reduction in new car prices, won't the value of cars owned by the people now drop even further? This doesn't sound too good for many.
5. And a bunch more which are a bit hard to explain, click here to read more

It's good that we're finally trying to lift the competitiveness of the industry and also invite some more foreign investors, like what Thailand did now that they're known as the "Detroit of Asia". But somehow, I think the gov. is trying to cover its dirty tracks by implementing these policies. Nevertheless, fortunately they have taken steps into expand the industry now than later. It's just what we need as we approach 2020. Usher those cars into our already congested streets!