Protons more expensive in Malaysia than overseas

ARCHIVES 2012

By admin-s On Jan 18, 2012

(FMT) – Malaysians pay more for locally-made Protons here than they would if they bought them overseas.

Saudi Arabians pay less for Malaysian-made Proton cars than we do, an independent think-tank revealed.

Citing the Finance Ministry, the Research for Social Advancement (REFSA) said that Saudis only needed to fork out at the most RM43,570 for a brand-new Proton Waja, Gen-2 or a Persona between 2008 and 2009.

Malaysians, on the other hand, were expected to cough up RM52,999 for a “standard Waja or Persona”, and RM52,988 for a Gen-2 in 2011.

“The fact that local cars are cheaper overseas makes little sense,” REFSA said in a statement.

“Proton cars are locally assembled, and utilise a good amount of locally-made spare parts. These Malaysian cars are not levied import tax, so what is impregnating the price tags?”

A quick search on the Internet showed that Saudi Arabia was not the only country selling Protons cheaper than what Malaysia offered.

According to Australian vehicle listing website RedBook (www.redbook.com.au), the cheapest 2011 Gen-2 model (GCM, 1.6 Manual) was priced at AU$15,990 or RM51,727.

The cheapest automatic Gen-2 1.6 M-Line, on the other hand, according to Proton’s website (www.proton-edar.com), was priced at RM54,538. Manual Gen-2 1.6 H-Lines were priced at RM57,038 onwards.

Those prices, according to the national car website, were just prices in Peninsular Malaysia. Protons sold in Sabah and Sarawak were found to be at least RM2,000 more.