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BMW Malaysia Bumps X5 xDrive45e Spec For 2022

BMW Malaysia have bolstered their popular X5 in plug-in hybrid xDrive45e form for 2022 with some noteworthy upgrades, priced at RM457,498.

It’s literally been a week and 2 years ago that BMW Malaysia first introduced the X5 xDrive45e that paired the G05-generation premium SAV with a petrol-electric powerplant we first saw when the G11 (LCI) 7 Series in Malaysia.

That said, its PHEV powertrain continues unchanged over the outgoing version, retaining the B58 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-6 petrol paired with an electric motor integrated into its ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. When combined it boasts a total output of 394PS and 600Nm – same as before, but a big lump of performance nonetheless, needing just 5.6 seconds to sprint from standstill to 100km/h.

Its lithium-ion battery also continues to maintain its maximum reserves of 24kWh, enabling up to 77km of pure electric driving without needing to spin up the combustion engine. BMW claims a 10-hour charge when connected to a conventional wall socket and just 50 minutes when attached to an AC charger, utilising its 3.7kW onboard converter.

There is a new set of Style 741M 21-inch alloys with a Y-spoke design that stands out as its most prominent cosmetic alteration, but look a little closer and you’ll also spot the inclusion of BMW’s Laserlight headlamps, obvious by its characteristic blue accent colours that complement other details such as the blue painted M sport brake callipers.

Standard headlining features, among others, remain such as its plush interior upholstered Vernasca leather, adaptive air suspension, ambient interior lighting, quad-zone climate control, 16-speaker Harman/Kardon stereo, panoramic sunroof, and combination BMW Live Cockpit Professional with twin 12.3-inch drivers display and infotainment touchscreen alongside dual companion 10.2-inch screens for the enjoyment of rear passengers.

BMW has also added rear-side airbags for a total of 8, giving a little extra peace of mind for second-row occupants. In addition to this, there’s Active Protection that monitors for imminent collisions or other emergency situations, wherein it pre-tensions the seatbelts and closes the windows and/or sunroof.

The usual assortment of active safety features are included as well courtesy of the equipped Driving Assistant package, furnishing the X5 xDrive45e with Autonomous Emergency Braking, Automatic High Beam, Blind Spot Monitoring, Lane Keep Assist, and a 360-degree all-round view monitor system. Unfortunately, driver assist systems such as Adaptive Cruise Control continue to be a glaring omission.

By the way, its 2022 on-the-road sticker price of RM457,498 already factors in SST and includes BMW’s extended warranty of 5 years, making it around RM6,000 dearer than its debut form in mid-2020. As standard, like all new BMWs in Malaysia, the X5 xDrive45e for 2022 comes with a 2-year warranty.

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Full SST Back On July 1st: Too Many Bookings, Too Little Time?

The confirmation that the SST ‘tax holiday’ on new vehicles will end on June 30th as scheduled was tinged with a pretty big caveat. Does that render the 31 March 2023 deadline meaningless?

You now have – officially – until 30th June to enjoy SST exemption on your next new car. That is a 100% SST reduction if your car is locally assembled or a 50% SST discount should your car be a fully imported unit.

The Finance Ministry, ignoring cries by the public and organisations alike, has put its foot down to assert that there will be no further extension, capping the timespan for which this SST exclusion period was active at 2 years.

SST exemption ends June 30 but…

But….along with this deadline comes a pretty glaring condition. Where before it was assumed that you have to have taken delivery of your new vehicle within this window to enjoy these reduced prices, you now have until 31st March 2023 to get the keys (or key fob these days) to be handed over to you.

That’s a pretty big deal as it opens the door for people to fill up order books en masse, as long as you have a few hundred Ringgit to spare, which of course showroom sales associates are only too happy to accept.

Good thing for them that it’s not actually ‘books’, in the physical sense, that are being filled out. They are digital records and technically unlimited. Booking fees are money into the showroom’s pocket, so it would be in their interest to accept as many of them as they can take. It’s a loophole in the car buying process that was innocuous enough before this but is poised to be heavily exploited until the 30th of June 2022. 

Book the car before June 30, 2022 but can you receive it before March 31, 2023?

Since there really is nothing else involved with making a booking for a car apart from the transfer of cash (or online bank transfer), apart from maybe a receipt, you don’t get a certificate of allocation or, apart from their best guess for when the car may or may not be ready, any indication of where you stand in the queue of other buyers or any guarantee that the car will arrive in time for March 2023. 

The government also has no oversight on these bookings or a clear definition of what this constitutes, deferring that responsibility to the dealership itself, meaning that a booking is a booking because the dealer says so. How can any authority verify that a booking was truly made before 30th June and not ‘snuck in’ days or weeks after the fact?

This expectation of self-policing is a slippery slope, but assuming there’s no hanky panky, as long as you get your booking down before 30th June 2022, which is plenty of time, you’re in the clear – regardless if you made 1 booking or 10. It’s like buying lottery tickets, almost. Put your eggs into as many baskets as you can. Diversify.

As far as we know from talking to a number of showroom employees and dealer principals, there are no protections in place to stop people from making multiple bookings. Most showrooms also maintain a 100% refundable booking fee policy, so the risk is relatively minimal to the potential buyer.

It’s possible, even likely, that automakers will be bombarded with bookings until June 30th, stretching the projected delivery date well beyond where it was prior to this announcement. Should any of these bookings be cancelled and refunded at a later date due to being false positives, it will not be a fun time for the automaker or their accountants to keep track of funds lost and fluctuating projections of cars needed to be manufactured/ assembled. 

Remember, there was already a new vehicle delivery issue, to begin with, due to widespread supply chain issues and a longstanding global semiconductor shortage.

In the end, it’s clear that the Finance Ministry wasn’t being as firm or decisive as it should have been. Though the SST holiday deadline set at 30th June (next week at the time of this writing) is technically accurate, it’s obvious the real cut-off point has been set at 31st March 2023. And who knows if this ‘shadow deadline’ will be extended should there be too many bookings to fulfill.

Like the month of free RapidKL public transport rides recently announced by the Prime Minister to coincide with the start of operations for Phase 1 of the new MRT Putrajaya line, many Malaysians have attached political motives behind this move to this indirect extension of the new car SST ‘tax holiday’ – not wanting to anger the Rakyat in the approach to the 15th general election with higher car prices after July 1st by significantly softening the blow as long as you make a trivial booking before June 30th.

A cunning plan.

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Wake Up Putrajaya: Free LRT/MRT/RapidKL Bus Rides Don’t Solve Any Problems

As a daily commuter to work, if taking public transportation during the morning and evening rush hours is already overcrowded, frustrating, and potentially claustrophobic, how can making the service free to use (temporarily) be a good sign?

Last week’s announcement by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob came as a surprise to most but sounds like a textbook move by the elected officials to ‘unburden the Rakyat’, as it were. Though it seemed paved with good intentions,  it didn’t take long for many Malaysians to see past the smoke screen.

Free Rides = Extra Overcrowded

In case you weren’t aware, June 16th marks the start of a month-long period where all public transport services that are part of the RapidKL network, such as MRT, LRT, KL Monorail, and RapidKL buses (including feeder buses and the Sunway BRT), can be used without any charge. How incredibly generous, isn’t it?

This announcement coincided with the opening of Phase 1 of the new MRT Putrajaya Line that stretches across 12 stations from Kwasa Damansara to Kampung Batu. Admittedly, it doesn’t stretch very far yet and we’ll have to wait for Phase 2 to begin operations in early 2023 to appreciate its full effect.

Getting To The Real Issues

Residents of the Klang Valley have been complaining for months that, since the start of the endemic period where a large portion of the nation’s workforce is returning to the office on a regular basis (as per ‘normal’ procedure), the act of getting to work is disproportionately more difficult than it was pre-pandemic. The roads are consistently clogged up and so is the public transportation network.

Somehow, Malaysia’s most populated area has ballooned in population over the past lockdown-laden 2 years, and they’re made to all be rushing into and out of their respective offices every day.

Flood Of People or Flood Water?

And just as greater KL was not (and continues not to be) adequately ready to shoulder and effectively disperse the torrent of water brought by a torrential downpour, so too are the road network and public transportation system overburdened by the ‘flood’ of people rushing into and out of the city in the mornings and evenings.

Is the solution, then, to encourage the people trapped in traffic jams to leave their cars parked at home and ride the buses and rail lines instead, despite the capacity being so high even now? Well, of course not.

Though it will no doubt urge people to use the RapidKL network at off-peak hours in addition to exploring new routes/destinations, it’s reasonable to assume that it could trigger even more instances of packed (claustrophobic) trains, long queues at stations, and in turn, result in delays to arriving at work on time.

Importantly, it is quite likely that those taking public transportation will arrive at their destinations even more frazzled and frustrated, subtly but significantly impacting productivity across a large cross-section of the country’s workforce.

In fact, this very reason is paramount to why people prefer taking their personal vehicle to work if given the option, and the ‘free rides’ may only reinforce this preference since the issue was never surrounding the cost factor of taking public transportation. Everyone can agree that taking the bus/train to work is cheaper, but rather everything else about the experience that was potentially problematic. We tolerate ‘driving to work’ despite it being significantly more expensive.

Again, ‘free rides’ don’t solve anything.  

Who Does This Benefit?

Many Malaysians have also pointed out the political subtext of this announcement, characterising it as a way to earn easy points with the public ahead of a looming 15th general election.
Since Prasarana Malaysia, operator of the RapidKL transport network, is wholly owned by the government and funded by the Ministry of Finance, it is actually taxpayer money being spent to compensate for the lost revenue from this zero charge month.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. We’re still paying in a way but in a more collective fashion.

Not to be the bearer of bad news but there are much more pressing matters that need to be addressed as opposed to offering the public a supposed free lunch, which has been a routine tactic to distract from implementing more holistic, long-term solutions. For example, the country is facing economic difficulties amid an uncertain financial future, still carries plenty of debt, as well as losing strategic advantages and key investments to our ASEAN neighbours.

What the government must accept and address is that the current congestion issues, both on the road and public transport network, are symptomatic of a larger issue. Until that is properly analysed and a solution implemented, these short-term freebies will always be seen as a ploy.

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Kerajaan Lulus Projek Laluan Alternatif Terowong Menora

Kerajaan telah meluluskan cadangan membina jalan pintas sebagai laluan alternatif kepada kenderaan supaya tidak melalui Terowong Menora di Lebuh Raya Utara Selatan (PLUS) bagi mengurangkan risiko kemalangan maut melibatkan kenderaan berat.

Menteri Kanan Kerja Raya, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof berkata, cadangan itu sebenarnya memang sudah dibentangkan kepada kementerian dan telah dibawa ke kabinet. Secara prinsipnya, ia sudah diluluskan.

“Apabila diluluskan secara prinsip, pihak syarikat perlu mematuhi semua prasyarat yang diletakkan oleh LLM dan juga kerajaan,” katanya.

Projek Perlu Patuh Syarat LLM

Jelas Fadhillah, pihak syarikat yang dicadangkan untuk mengendali projek ini perlu mematuhi semua syarat yang ditetapkan oleh Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM).

Berikut merupakan antara syarat yang ditetapkan sebelum projek dilaksanakan:

Kajian alam sekitar
Impak sosial dan trafik

Bila Projek Ini Akan Dilaksanakan?

Untuk memastikan projek ini boleh dilaksanakan, kerajaan perlu melihat bagaimana kos projek itu dan berapa harga tol yang bakal dikenakan kelak untuk membayar balik hutang operasi dan sebagainya.

Tambah Fadillah, keputusan sama ada projek ini boleh dilaksanakan atau tidak akan hanya akan dimuktamadkan apabila semua kajian itu selesai dan dibentangkan. Ketika ini, pihak kementerian sedang menunggu proses tersebut.

Terdahulu, kerajaan Perak telah bersetuju dengan cadangan membina jalan pintas sebagai laluan alternatif kepada kenderaan supaya tidak melalui Terowong Menora di Lebuh Raya Utara Selatan (PLUS) di sini, sebagai mengurangkan risiko kemalangan jalan raya.

Ini berikutan laluan sedia ada berhampiran Terowong Menora kerap menjadi lokasi kemalangan maut membabitkan kenderaan berat sehingga menyebabkan kesesakan lalu lintas yang luar biasa di kawasan berkenaan.

Menurut Menteri Besar Perak, Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad, cadangan membina laluan pintas sejauh 64 Kilometer (km) bermula dari susur keluar Gopeng melalui Seputih sebelum keluar di Kuala Kangsar itu telah diluluskan Kabinet bulan lalu untuk dibina.

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Honda Malaysia Recalls 1,527 Units Of Vehicles Involving City, City Hatchback, HR-V And BR-V

 

Honda Malaysia has announced a proactive product recall involving the City, City Hatchback, HR-V and BR-V in a precautionary safety measure. 

The details of the affected models are as follows:

Situation
Model
Year Model
Units Affected

A
City
2021
1068

A
City Hatchback
2022
 

B
HR-V
2020
343

B
BR-V
2021
116

The reason for the recall is for the inspection of the nut torque on the Alternating Current Generator (ACG) for situation A. It is a precautionary recall to inspect the nut tightening on the ACG terminal of the engine harness.

If not tightened properly this may cause poor contact terminal and battery malfunction. This in turn could lead to the engine dying while driving or an inability to start the engine after the car stops. The models affected are 1,068 units cumulatively of the 2021 City and 2022 City Hatchback.

Whereas the recall for the 2020 HR-V and 2021 BR-V is to inspect the tightening of the bolt earth terminal grounding that may lead to a loose wire harness. This too could result in the engine dying while driving or an inability to start the engine after the car stops.

Honda Malaysia apologises for the inconvenience caused to affected customers and further reports that as of today, there are no incidences of crashes or injuries caused by this issue reported in Malaysia.

 

All affected customers will be informed via a letter, which will include details of the product recall. Honda Malaysia urges all affected customers to contact any Honda authorised dealer to make an appointment upon receipt of the notification to have their vehicles checked and repaired if required, subject to parts availability. 

The inspection, repair, and replacement of the affected parts are free of charge and all costs related to this recall activity will be borne by Honda Malaysia. 

Vehicle owners can obtain information or check their vehicle status on this product recall by calling Honda Malaysia at 1-800-88-2020. 

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Wajarkah Penggunaan LRT 2 Koc Pada Waktu Puncak? – LRT Sesak, Pengguna Terdesak

Rata-rata pengguna Transit Aliran Ringan (LRT) di Lembah Klang kecewa dengan kualiti perkhidmatan yang ditawarkan memandangkan LRT sering mengalami kelewatan serta gangguan teknikal sejak akhir-akhir ini sehingga menyebabkan kesesakan luar biasa di stesen.

Kebanyakan daripada mereka yang penat menunggu di stesen mahukan pihak pengurusan LRT, iaitu Prasarana untuk mengambil inisiatif seperti menambah bilangan tren, menambah bilangan gerabak atau koc kereta api bagi menampung lebih ramai penumpang ketika waktu puncak.

Kenapa Perlu Tambah Gerabak?

Waktu kekerapan tren yang semakin berkurang
Mengelakkan kesesakan di stesen ketika waktu puncak
Mengurangkan kepadatan penumpang dalam gerabak

Berdasarkan perhatian kami, LRT laluan Kelana Jaya masih lagi menggunakan sebahagian tren 2 koc yang pendek walaupun tren 4 koc telah diperkenalkan. Ketika waktu puncak, kapasiti tren yang kecil akan menyebabkan kesesakan di stesen dan juga di dalam kereta api.

Apabila stesen sudah padat dengan lautan manusia, segelintir daripada pengguna terpaksa mencari pengangkutan alternatif lain yang lebih cepat untuk ke tempat kerja seperti e-hailing atau menggunakan bas. Bayangkan jika berlaku gangguan perkhidmatan di mana tren berhenti lebih lama di setiap stesen. Kalau guna tren dua koc, silap-silap tren baru melalui dua stesen, terus penuh.

*Kredit foto: Ayaciksiti94 

Kesesakan Luar Biasa Di Stesen LRT

Penggunaan koc 2 gerabak pada waktu puncak sedikit sebanyak telah menyumbang terhadap kesesakan luar biasa di stesen LRT sejak akhir-akhir ini, ditambah pula dengan kebanyakan pekerja sudah kembali bekerja di pejabat.

Penumpang yang menunggu di sesuatu stesen mungkin terpaksa melepaskan tren yang baru tiba di stesen walaupun telah menunggu lama ekoran tren itu sudah dipenuhi dengan penumpang dari stesen-stesen sebelumnya.

Seperti di stesen LRT Pasar Seni, Berita Harian melaporkan bahawa penumpang dibahagikan mengikut laluan LRT dengan kumpulan 20 orang dilepaskan dalam satu masa untuk ke platform menunggu. Walaupun beratur panjang, pergerakan penumpang dari LRT ke Transit Aliran Massa (MRT) dan sebaliknya dilihat lancar.

Kawalan pergerakan penumpang seperti ini pernah dibuat ketika negara dalam fasa Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP). Kaedah ini dilaksanakan kerana platform di atas terlalu sesak apabila terdapat pertembungan di antara penumpang yang keluar tren dengan mereka yang masuk.

LRT Dalam Proses Pemulihan, Kekerapan Tren Berkurang

LRT laluan Kelana Jaya kini sedang dalam proses penambahbaikan dan pemulihan selepas lebih dua dekad perkhidmatannya setelah menelan belanja RM800 juta bagi membaik pulih 28 set tren jenis 818.

Semasa tempoh pembaikan ini, kekerapan tren bertambah sekitar empat minit berbanding 2.5 minit sebelum ini.

Menurut Menteri Pengangkutan sebelum ini, proses ini penting bagi mengelakkan gangguan perkhidmatan kepada pengguna memandangkan prestasi tren jenis 818 telah menurun setelah 15 tahun beroperasi.

Wajarkah Penggunaan Tren 2 Koc Ketika Waktu Puncak?

Secara logiknya, dengan penambahan waktu menunggu LRT ketika ini, tren 2 koc ini dilihat tidak lagi wajar digunakan ketika waktu puncak bagi menampung lebih ramai pengguna dalam satu masa.

Penggunaan tren 2 koc pada waktu puncak menyebabkan suasana di dalam tren itu menjadi padat dan sesak. Pengguna LRT yang harus bersesak-sesak antara satu sama lain juga terdedah dengan risiko dijangkiti COVID-19 memandangkan virus itu masih ada dalam kalangan kita.

Walau bagaimanapun, tren 2 koc itu masih lagi relevan dan boleh digunakan oleh Prasarana, cuma hadkan penggunaannya terutama ketika waktu puncak dan lebihkan tren 4 koc ketika waktu puncak supaya kesesakan di stesen dapat ditangani.

*Kredit foto: Utusan TV

Tambang Percuma Sebulan, Tetapi..

Pemberian tambang percuma pengangkutan awam seperti LRT,MRT, KTM dan Bas Rapid KL selama sebulan memang sesuatu yang baik, namun kualiti perkhidmatan yang ditawarkan membuatkan ramai pengguna berasa tidak puas hati.

Persoalannya, adakah pemberian tambang percuma selama sebulan ini dapat menyelesaikan masalah perkhidmatan LRT atau hanya sekadar gula-gula untuk rakyat supaya pengguna lupa tentang betapa teruknya perkhidmatan LRT sejak akhir-akhir ini?

Syed Saddiq juga menyambut baik dengan pemberian tambang ini, namun beliau berpendapat jumlah subsidi RM155 Juta patut digunakan dengan lebih pragmatik dengan:

Menambah koc penumpang
Menambah bilangan tren
Menambah bilangan bas awam
Menaik taraf kemudahan di stesen

Jika pemberian tambang percuma ini memerlukan pelanggan untuk beratur panjang dan menunggu lebih lama untuk menaiki tren, adakah pemberian tambang percuma ini berbaloi untuk memujuk mereka daripada menggunakan kereta untuk menaiki pengangkutan awam seperti ini? Bukankah lebih baik sekiranya dana itu digunakan untuk menambah baik fasiliti di LRT seperti eskalator yang rosak selama berbulan-bulan di stesen-stesen LRT tanpa dibaiki?

Prasarana perlu menambah koc atau bilangan tren secepat mungkin bagi membantu mengurangkan bukan sahaja kesesakan di dalam tren, malah juga membantu mengurangkan kesesakan di stesen LRT serta di jalan raya sekiranya lebih ramai menggunakan pengangkutan awam. Penambahbaikan seperti ini bakal menarik lebih ramai pengguna LRT di masa hadapan.

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Tren Shuttle Tebrau (JB-Singapura) Kembali Beroperasi – Kurangkan Kesesakan Trafik

Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) telah memulakan semula operasi perkhidmatan Tren Shuttle Tebrau dari Stesen JB Sentral, Johor Bahru ke Stesen Woodlands, Singapura setelah lebih dua tahun perkhidmatannya tergendala ekoran pandemic COVID-19.

Oleh kerana Tren Shuttle Tebrau ini telah ditutup sementara pada 24 Mac 2020 berikutan penutupan sempadan negara, latihan pengoperasian semula perkhidmatan tren ini telah dilakukan sejak 14 Jun lalu sebagai persiapan awal.

Tren Shuttle Tebrau Sedia Beroperasi

Berdasarkan kenyataan Kementerian Pengangkutan, Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, bagi memastikan semuanya berjalan lancar, latihan pengoperasian telah dibuat seperti:

Memeriksa gerakan gerabak
Ciri keselamatan
Sistem penjualan tiket
Operasi penjualan

Waktu Perjalanan Shuttle Tebrau

Shuttle Tebrau mempunyai 31 perjalanan setiap hari
Bermula dari jam 5 pagi hingga 11.45 malam
13 Perjalanan dari Malaysia – Singapura
18 Perjalanan dari Singapura – Malaysia

*Kredit foto: Malay Mail

Kurangkan Kesesakan Trafik JB – Singapura

Perkhidmatan Tren Shuttle Tebrau ini mampu menampung kapasiti maksimum seramai 320 penumpang bagi setiap perjalanan. Wee menjangkakan Shuttle Tebrau ini akan digunakan seramai 7,000 penumpang sehari.

Pengoperasian semula perkhidmatan Shuttle Tebrau ini bakal mengurangkan kadar kesesakan trafik di Tambak Johor dan Kompleks Imigresen, Kastam dan Kuarantin (CIQ) Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) terutama pada waktu puncak

Harga Tiket

Perkhidmatan Tren Shuttle Tebrau mengekalkan tambang sedia ada iaitu RM5 sehala bagi perjalanan dari JB Sentral ke Woodlands dan SGD5 dari Woodlands ke JB Sentral.

Tiket perkhidmatan Shuttle Tebrau sudah mula dijual pada 13 Jun lalu bagi perjalanan 19 Jun sehingga 18 Julai 2022.

Menurut Wee, setakat Jumaat lalu, sebanyak 68,070 tiket sudah dijual dengan penjualan tiket yang lebih awal ini, ia dapat membantu pengguna merancang perjalanan mereka khususnya rakyat Johor yang berulang-alik berkerja di Singapura.

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Works Ministry Needs RM3.4 Billion To Repair Federal Roads

How much would it take to repair federal roads throughout Peninsular Malaysia? According to the country’s Works Ministry, an allocation of RM3.4 billion is needed by next year. Quite a bill for that one, eh?

During a visit to one of the locations in Gerik, Perak, Works Minister, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, explained that the big budget is needed in order to complete all necessary jobs such as damage repairs, resurfacing, additional layers, and new road construction.

*Image credit: Kementerian Kerja Raya Malaysia

A quote from The Star stated Datuk Fadillah mentioning that “We are aware that many priorities have to be considered before the allocation is given, which in some cases is insufficient like the RM68 million to repair the federal road, FT004 (the East-West Highway).”

Despite the challenges, the Works Ministry is looking into other solutions for both the short and long term to solve these rising matters. These include resurfacing and repairing the damaged roads before moving on to major resurfacing and new road construction works.

*Image credit: Kementerian Kerja Raya Malaysia

As for the FT004 damaged section near Gerik, works involving patching and resurfacing will commence this Saturday (25 June 2022). From what we’ve read, it’s going to be some major work to fix it all up, so those nearby should plan your journey accordingly.

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Malaysia New Car Sales Dropped Another 12% in May

Malaysia’s Total Industry Volume (TIV) in new car sales for May 2022 stood at 49,603 units – a drop of 12% compared to April 2022.

According to the sales stats presented by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA), the reasons contributing to this drop were due to two main aspects:

Short working month due to the Hari Raya festive holidays

Shortage of chips and components and logistics delay disruptions continue to affect some manufacturers

On a positive note, the Year-To-Date sales volumes comparison between May 2022 and May 2021 saw an improvement. Compared to the 49,603 units sold in May 2022, May 2021 was 2,396 units down at 47,207 units.

Looking at the projections for June 2022, MAA stated that there’s a possibility that these figures will further improve due to the SST exemption finally coming to an end on 30 June 2022. Those who wish to enjoy the sales tax exemption may place their booking before this month’s end and get the new cars registered before March 2023.

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NO SST Exemption Past June 30, 2022 But…

No further SST exemptions but buyers who have made their bookings during this ‘tax holiday’ period will have until March 31st, 2023 to register their vehicle with the Road Transport Department (JPJ).

‘Like for real for real’ – the Finance Ministry isn’t budging to demands to extend the SST exemption period any longer. However, there is a silver lining here.

It was widely thought/hoped that a late announcement might have been made to reverse this deadline, but it seems that the ministry is firm in its decision to reintroduce full SST pricing for new vehicles.

However, there is some good news here as it was also confirmed that buyers who have made their bookings during this ‘tax holiday’ period will have until March 31st, 2023 to register their vehicle with the Road Transport Department (JPJ).

This allays fears that the SST exemption/discount would only apply to those that have (or will have) taken delivery of said vehicle before June 30th. Expect order books to be filled up pretty quickly in these last remaining days, so you better act quickly.

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said that this grace period was given to buyers as there are some 264,000 bookings currently pending that automakers are unable to fulfill due to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage.

“The extension of this vehicle registration period is a mid-point solution to balance the interests of consumers and national tax revenue which needs to be re-enhanced post-pandemic to ensure the welfare of the people and the economic well-being of the country continues to be preserved,” he added.

As of now, and this has been the case since mid-2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting lockdowns, there has been a 100% SST exemption for new vehicles locally assembled in Malaysia while a 50% discount was applied for those sold here fully imported (CBU).

It was a fairly successful move that, as intended, helped to bolster the automotive industry through a challenging period of financial uncertainty. However, it has been argued that such an additional incentive is needed to help that same industry (and the country’s economy as a whole) navigate past this recovery phase.

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