MAA says new formula to speed up vehicle pricing approval from the government currently in the works

The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) has previously said that delayed vehicle pricing approval is an issue for car companies in the country, resulting in certain launches having to be pushed back or estimated pricing being issued in the meantime.

Today, the association held its 22nd annual general meeting to select its council members for 2021/2022, which was followed by a Q&A session with members of the media. We took the opportunity to ask MAA president Datuk Aishah Ahmad if there’s been any development in regards to the aforementioned matter.

“Basically, in terms of launches and all that, they [MAA members] will have to get their price approved by ABDC (Automotive Business Development Committee) if they’re looking for incentives, and that takes a few months before it is approved and has to go to the MoF (ministry of finance),” said Aishah.

“But the government is coming up with a new formula or timeline to say – I don’t know when it’s going to be implemented – but they promise that applications will be approved within three months’ time. We are hoping for that timeline to be implemented very soon,” she explained.

Aishah previously described the process of vehicle pricing approval, where an application is first sent to the ABDC, which consists of its chairman, MITI (ministry of international trade and industry), MIDA (Malaysian Investment Development Authority), MARii (Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute), Customs and the MoF.

At the time, she said it generally took three months before an application can be processed by the ABDC, although obtaining an approval letter from the MoF can take much longer, causing a delay. The new formula mentioned should shorten the time taken, although the finer details are unknown for now.

When asked if there has been a clearer clarification in terms of incentives, particularly for locally-assembled (CKD) cars and how they are priced, Aishah said association members have been given an indication of the policy, although discussions with the government is still ongoing to determine what’s best for all automotive industry players, with no definitive implementation date.

It was previously made known that new regulations would see CKD vehicles be liable to pay more taxes due to a change in methodology of how the open market value (OMV) of a vehicle is calculated. Originally planned to come into effect in 2020, although it has been put on hold until now.

With vague timelines to all these measures, one question raised is if car companies here are facing issues when it comes to planning for the future as well as in terms of investments. “It does delay launches of new car models but at least they are looking at coming up with a timeline to say that in the future, if everything is in order in terms of your submissions and all that, you can get the approval within three months’ time. To us, this is a move in the right direction,” Aishah said.

The post MAA says new formula to speed up vehicle pricing approval from the government currently in the works appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.

from Paul Tan's Automotive News
Read The Rest:paultan...