Playing with the GIANTS

Still on the Malaysian Budget 2004 issue, this time on another favourite discussion, the prices of cars in Malaysia. According to the PM,

"The Government has indicated earlier that the prices of cars will not be lowered even after the reduction of import duties on cars from ASEAN countries. To mitigate the loss in revenue, the Government proposes to levy excise duties on imported cars when import duties are reduced from 1 January 2004. Therefore, consumers are encouraged to purchase cars now for themselves and their families. "

This is of course to protect the national car makers Proton and Perodua.

In the automotive industry, mergers and acquisition seemed to be the current trend. Just take a look at the world's biggest auto maker, General Motors for example, under its belt there's the American favourites Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Caddilac, Buick, GMC, Saturn and Hummer as well as European favourites SAAB and Opel. I believe Fiat will also be in its group of companies if the acquisition process goes well. Ford Motors on the other hand have these brands under it's belt; America's Lincoln and Mercury, British Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin, Japanese Mazda and Swedish Volvo. Chrysler have merged with Daimler-Benz. The Volkswagen Group have Audi, Bently, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Seat and Skoda under its belt. French Citroen and Peugeot sits under the PSA Group.

But check this out, according to Bloomberg the most valuable car maker is Toyota, with market capitalization of USD108Billion. That's more than GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler put together. Nissan sits at number two with USD50Billion followed by Honda with USD42Billion.

Now back to Proton, a check with KLSE indicates that its market capitalization at RM4.23Billion. We sure have a long way to go... Then again, the question pops up, where do we want to go? How are we treating Proton and Perodua, as a national icon or as a business case? which is more important?

While talking about cars, I could not help but drool at the sexyness of a Toyota Camry Solara.

Somewhat Related: More info from Bloomberg

Comments

[Sharizal Shaarani]

oh yes it is sexxeeh

[fooji]

I would rather not play dirty, and admit we are still
volumes behind......
what is Mahathir thinking? Would badawi oveturn that
move?

[Jongang]

Nationalism is not free. Take Proton and Perodua. Protecting these two national icons has cost the public a lot. The problem is will the public continue to support the move to protect these two national icon ?

A related question then is how come these two producers are called national icons worthy to be saved? The public was not given a choice. The choice has been made by Mahathir….

Bevause I think the majority of the public wants a cheaper car…after all when we buy cars…we are paying them out of our own income.

So, we are paying for Mahathir’s choice.

[KaZ]

stuck in a gridlock are we...? Support the national icon and the money goes to the govt, dont support the national icon and you still pay (via tax) to the govt.

I guess what the public want is not cheaper cars but value for money.

[Be]

thanks for da links