Perodua Slashes Prices by 1-3% With the Reintroduction of the SST...What? How???

Perodua has released their latest car prices in line with the government’s reintroduction of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) effective 1 September 2018. The very surprising thing is that the new prices for all its models have actually been reduced by between 1-3% (for selected models) compared with Goods and Services Tax (GST)-era pricing. This actually bucks the rumours that prices should go up after SST gets reimplemented. Surprising indeed.

Anyway, just to brush up one's memory on the whole thing, after the change of the ruling political party, the newly formed government zeroed the GST rate (from 6%) on 1 June 2018, opening up a ‘tax holiday’ period. This created a super ridiculous spike in vehicle demand that lasted three months. Everything that could be sold was snapped up, especially those from manufacturers like Perodua and other popular brands.

In July, the Finance Ministry announced that the SST, which was due to replace the GST, would be set at 10% for sales and 6% for services. So everyone rushed to buy cars and everything else that was higher priced so that they could save a little (well, actually, buying nothing would have saved even more...but that isn't human nature).

“Based on the new tax structure, almost all Perodua models see price reductions compared to the GST price structure,” said Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd Managing Director Dato’ Dr Zahari Husin.

“We wish to thank all Malaysians, especially our 3.3 million valued customers who have chosen Perodua as their brand of choice. We will continue to offer the best value in the Malaysian market with our new prices,” said Dato’ Dr Zahari.

What this has showed is that there is no actual snowball effect of one level of GST to the other. Last time, even though the GST was supposed to be refunded from most levels - raw material supplier, parts vendor, manufacturer, sales outlet etc, it was never enforced properly on every level and on every product. People took advantage of the system and companies raised prices indiscriminately.

Of course, larger companies (like Perodua) could do so  as they had the economic might to engage legal aid if they felt cheated. This is also why Perodua could cap its prices during GST and this is also why Perodua could also drop prices at a period where most would be thinking of raising them. Kudos to Perodua! Again, their company mottor rings true again.

But I've also realised that with this...we now have to ask those that rushed and bought a car -  Very little tax holiday if the prices are affordable to start with. 

He also had this to say about after sales, where the company has not issued anything concrete at the moment. SST on labour charges should come in at 6% so do take note on this extra at the very least.

“On Perodua’s service and parts, we will continue to give competitive pricing to our customers. We truly appreciate the unwavering support the people have shown for our products and services, and will continue to improve ourselves for our customers.”

“Please visit any of our sales and service outlets nationwide and speak to our authorised sales
and service advisors to learn more about our products and services,” said Dato’ Dr Zahari. 

So head over to the Perodua website for pricing. It should be up already. I am just giving you the heads up as it was given to us over here.