How Much Is That Car In The Window?




Every time I am in Sydney, I never fail to compare car prices here with the ones we pay back home. Cringe worthy ... it also helps to explain why so many expats in Malaysia end up driving beaten down pathetic cars because they just could not allow themselves to pay such exorbitant prices for the cars in Malaysia.

I am looking at the papers now and saw that one can drive away with Bentley Continental Flying Spur, its in silver tempest, and even though its a demonstrator, I think its exceptional at A$339,950 (RM850,000).... or you can opt for the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe for just A$288,888 (RM740,000).

OK, lets bring things down to earth. The new 2009 Special Edition Toyota Camry Touring, drive away at A$29,990 (RM75,000)... do you want to cry now??? Oh, it also comes with 17" alloys, rear lip spoiler, dual zone aircon and ta-dah... a 6 disc CD changer.

Let me browse some more, a new Honda CRV Sport goes for A$39,990 (RM100,000). Aaah.. they have a small promotion on Volvo cars: you can drive away a new Volvo XC70 for A$60,000; an S80 for A$74,000; or and XC90 for A$72,000. Just multiply by 2.5x.

Even the starter Porsche Boxster, brand new is going for just A$113,000!!!

I have mentioned this many times, how much longer do we need to subsidise the Protons and Peroduas. Look at the average per capita of Malaysians, and how much of our spending power has been going down the drain thanks to that one item... CARS!!! You get developed countries with 3x or 4x our per capita income paying about 40% cheaper for car prices - mana kepala hotak engkau???.. Its a hugely inefficient allocation of resources. I don't mind supporting our local industries for a few years to get them to grow up strong... but gawd... how many fucking years NOW, 15??? 20??? A whole generation has been basically GIVING money to Proton and Perodua... do it this way... JUST TAKE THE DEDUCTION FROM OUR PAY PACKET instead, why bother???



p/s photos: Angelababy










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