I recently took my family across the border to the Lion City for some shopping and sightseeing. It wasn't a Rest & Recreation type of holiday. It was Arab Street (above) for the wife's clothing material, Orchard Road for more shopping and the Jurong Bird Park for the little girl's sightseeing. My feet felt like lead after three days and then we had to face quite a horrendous jam whilst trying to make it back to KL. But it was a fun filled trip. Lots of things to see and do over there.
The great thing about the trip down south was that it was the first really long trip using the car I recently bought - the Mercedes Benz C180 CGI BlueEfficiency and even after the six or so hours driving back from Singapore I felt as fresh as when I started the journey. Everyone needs to own one of these or better. But let me tell you a secret. You could do the same thing with a Toyota Camry. It is even quieter than a C-class. It isn't as sporty to drive as one buy if you want to feel as fresh as you started your journey, the unclemobile could be your choice. Remember the Unclemobile folks.
Anyway, I was actually quite intrigued by the fact that there are quite a number of newly registered C180 (1.6) C-classes over there. This with the fact that COE (certificate of Entitlement) prices are sky high at over SGD60,000 per car and the very recent tightening of car loans over there (50% downpayment and a maximum of 5 years). A C180 costs SGD 185,000 or thereabouts. Now convert that to Ringgit, it is a bomb. And there are many of them around.
This got me thinking about car prices around South East Asia. The reason being that so many Malaysians out there seem to be complaining about not being able to afford cars over here with the excise duty and other taxes and whatnots. Let me enlighten you guys out there by saying that Malaysia isn't as bad as we think.
Let's take a Mercedes Benz C200 CGI as an example. In good ol' Malaysia the C200 CGI Elegance sells for RM262,000.00. It looks steep doesn't it? With all those zeros behind and all that. Now lets compare the price of the same car elsewhere in the region.
IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) 559,000,000 - RM177,404.22
BHT (Thai Bhat) 2,250,000 - RM236,362.83
Peso (Philippine Peso) 3, 280,000 - RM248,005.97
SGD (Singapore Dollar) 220,888 - RM550,791.07
AUD (Australian Dollar) 64,954 - RM209.851.00
NZD (New Zealand Dollar) 69,999 - RM181,775.72
I converted using xe.com's currency converter and I did not pick these figures out of nothing. Note that we are second highest in the list, but our figures aren't that far from other countries where the automotive industry has government protection, namely Thailand and the Philippines. Cars are cheap if you buy those manufactured locally (Toyota in Thailand as an example - you will see that everycar is a Toyota and a fourth or fifth is another brand).
It isn't that rosy in Australia too. Whilst you may think that AUD65,000 is a small amount but a junior exec in Australia may earn AUD6,000 or AUD72,000 per annum, but he is liable to get hit with income tax of between 9.1% to 21% depending on his deductions (The super rich here pay a maximum of 44.9% in taxes, still not as high as Sweeden where you pay up to 56% of your income for 'FREE EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE'). The best bet is the junior exec gets off with 12.5% average and on top of that a 1.5% Medicare levy (now WHO SAID things were free in developed countries).
Now add to the fact that everything you buy in Australia is susceptible to Goods and Sales Tax (GST)of 10% it gets a little tougher overall. In 2011-2012 there was such a thing as Flood Levy which the junior exec would have to pay 0-0.25% of his hard earned income to subsidize the rebuilding of Queensland after the 2010-2011 floods over there. So as a result, when I was holidaying in Australia in 2011, there are not many luxury compact executives running around. Its either the cost of living is high, or everyone there does not want earthy possessions which are slightly more luxurious than others (I doubt so).
In Singapore things are ultra shitty. You got GST at 17%, and 3 room condos going for SGD 3.5million (Here in PJ, its still a 'sane' RM750,000 or thereabouts). Junior exec earning SGD6,000 may get hit with a 10% income tax (maximum payable tax in SG is 20%) and no chance ever to buy a house or a Mercedes Benz.
Over in Jakarta, Indonesia you wouldn't want to drive a Mercedes Benz. The traffic is horrendous and everyone around you is in a state of poverty that you are liable to be kidnapped, car-jacked for money or your car simply keyed. You'd want something third world like a Toyota Kijang Innova to run around.
So what are we complaining about? The food here in Malaysia is good, houses aren't as stratospheric as Singapore, our living conditions aren't as crazy as Bangkok or Jakarta or Manila, we don't pay ridiculous amounts of taxes.
Malaysia is the best place to be. Full stop.
7 comments:
For Indonesia, your pricing is incorrect as it is the off the road price. Indonesia impose a heavy tax on luxury car and the on the road price for the Mercedes Benz C200 would be IDR 800,000,000. If its only IDR559,000,000, every other Indonesian would own a C200.
Malaysia is the best place to be? You must be dreaming. Houses and cars are expensive in Singapore, but as you observed, people can still afford those things. That's because the currency and wages are also higher. Look at Malaysia. How many can afford to drive around in a C Class like you? How many of those don't have crony connections to the government or related businesses? Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila are real, growing, organic cities, not the mish-mash of suburbs we have in the Klang Valley. With that comes problems but also benefits. Here's another thing to bear in mind: without a C Class to tool around in, how many in Malaysia can get around with public transport? Compare that to the aforementioned cities and you'll see how deep our problems run.
Actually there are many who drive around in a C Class. Try looking around you especially in Petaling Jaya and most of the major roads around KL. Take a look at all the grey importers in Klang Valley...they all have C Classes lying around for Malaysians to buy and these cars are sellings according to the salesmen.
Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila are really terrible places to be if you are a motorhead. Organis, growing they may be but there are more problems there than in KL. Trust me on this. You cannot drive nice cars there for various reasons. And as if public transport in Jakarta, Manila and Bangkok is fabulous. If I was based in Jakarta I'd have a driver and a stupid Toyota truck based MPV as a car would suffer in the traffic (which is worse than KL) and bad road condition. You're tallking inner-city transport, Bangkok if it weren't for their Skytrains would be hell. Jakarta is actually hell most of the time. Our public transport is actually better than you think as I used it to collect my Mercedes Benz.
As for cronism, about 25 or so families in thailand and the philipines control most of the assets over there. Life is hard there too okay.
It's precisely grey imports that are a symptom of how out of reach luxury cars are in Kuala Lumpur -- let's not even talk about Malaysia. And since you bring up the wealthier KL suburbs -- Here's something you can try: Use Google Maps to route you from, say, Taman Tun to Mid Valley, with public transport as the mode. See how long that takes you. That tells you everything you need to know about getting around in the Klang Valley. As you will notice, one of the main problems is that bus service is non-existent. Why is that? Neighbouring countries do not have luxurious public transport, but at least it exists, and it shifts tens of thousands of bodies a day. Not something you can say about Kuala Lumpur.
Hmm...again it is perception. When I talk to a Singaporean about how distances to walk to reach public transport, 1.5km is a reasonable distance for them to walk to reach the MRT - had a short discussion with a few locals and a singaporean who said that walking from the Weld to Lot 10 is reasonable all the time whereas the locals say it is far.
In Malaysia, Malaysians don't even want to walk 5feet. In Jakarta, it actually is the same thing. Not all those funny small van buses go into suburbs. If you talk about taking public transport, I have to tell you that when I collected my car I took public transport. I walked from Tmn Sri Rampai to the LRT station in Wangsa Maju (about 1.2km via googlemaps), hopped on the LRT to Ampang Park, walked to the Cycle Carriage showroom opposite the American Embassy. ....If you're saying that there's no proper public transport in Taman Tun I'd say yes there isn't right inside taman tun...are you prepared to walk? I am.
But note that Taman Tun will get the MRT soon and will shift thousands of bodies a day soon. But it isn't going to be at your doorstep is it? Distances is subjective...especially if you're lazy.
I think Malaysia is a nice place albiet shitty politicians with crazy racial based policies. However, as a Chinese ethnic myself and owned a business. I can say you can't have such a life in overseas.
Take Aussie for example, life is easy there because everyone is busy enjoying life. Most people are driving luxury cars because most luxury cars are low in spec. Notice their ' starts from'.... I bet if luxury brand launched their low specced here in Malaysia, no one will even wanna look at it.
Furthermore, most people who cant afford beautiful cars in other Asean country is freaking rich no matter where they go. Certainly richer than Malaysian who drives a luxo car. I drives a 528i but when i go Sg. Man, just keep the car in the hotel basement.
You can't convert. It's a Dollar to Dollar, RM to Rm thingy. You earn Ringgit, you buy the car in Ringgit. You earn Aussie $, you spend Aussie $. You earn RM5,000.00 a month, the C Class cost is 52.4 months of your salary. You earn Aus$5,000.00, the C Class is 13 months your salary...
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