The bad news first..lots if you are a continental car lover like me.
Maintaining the import and sales tax, and excise duty. So Alfo Mito will still be RM150k++ and a Golf GTI will still be RM200k+ in the near future.
No more import of used car parts by 2011. The source of many continental car parts from Japan or Singapore. Mana nak cari parts untuk 145 boxer? Engine parts are still manageable as it shares with 146, but body parts? I probably gotta get a whole second car if I intend to keep it for long. Also parts price will skyrocket as it'll be scarce.
No more open AP after 2015. So better get the GT-R, STI, EVO, Silvia grey imports before then.
Any goodies?
As NAP allows assembling of autos >1.8L and costing >RM150,000, a VW GTI might cost cheaper due to the difference between CBU import duty and sales tax vs CKD import duty & sales tax by about 20%. For this to happen, either one of the assembly plants owned by DRB-Hicom (Pekan) or PROTON will have to tie up with major automakers. Malaysia being the biggest passenger car market in ASEAN is an attractive market, while the assembly plant owners would benefit by the higher utilisation of their plants, which some sources have quoted between 50-80% capacity utilisation.
A VW TDI will also be a possibility as the announced road map for petrol and diesel to comply with Euro 4M by 2011. The high sulphur content of current diesel Euro 2M has been a deterrent as most modern engines are designed to run on Euro 3. I once drove an Audi A4 Avant diesel with 1.9TDi. Love the pick up, 20-30% better consumption compared to a petrol, but looses breath early (5k rpm). But a killer in city traffic if you ask me.
Well both of these are big ifs, as it'll require a tie-up between automakers, which as of now, only VW seems interested, or to a certain extent, Renault.
This coupled with new fuel mechanism thats gonna track the oil price, things will not get any rosier for a continental car lover in the next few years.
