KUALA LUMPUR: A WEAK ringgit has taken its toll on local and foreign carmakers in Malaysia as the automotive industry starts to feel the heat from rising operation costs.
Lexus Malaysia and UMW Toyota have announced that they will raise prices by between four and 16 per cent effective January next year.
Honda Malaysia and Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) have also hinted in doing the same.
Honda Malaysia marketing director Akhbar Daniel said the Japanese carmaker was currently doing an impact analysis before raising its vehicle prices.
“If we were to raise the prices, it should be in early January. But at the moment, we are still analysing the total impact to the business and looking at the right percentage if there is an increase.
“(It’s) possible that prices will be raised as we have trouble coping with a lower ringgit against the US dollar, despite having 80 per cent local content.
“As a benchmark, completely-built-up (CBU) cars are impacted directly compared to locally manufactured cars (CKD) cars, so it is expected that CBU cars will be priced much higher than CKD cars,” he told Business Times yesterday.
Earlier last month, Perodua, Malaysia’s No. 1 carmaker in terms of sales, said it might increase the prices of its cars if the ringgit
continued to depreciate against the US dollar.
Its president and chief executive officer Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh said some of Perodua parts were imported and charged in the greenback.
UMW Toyota Motor (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, in a statement last week, cited the depreciating ringgit, which has fallen 20 per cent year-to-date against the US dollar, as the main reason for the planned increases in their Toyota and Lexus car prices.
The company said it had no choice but to transfer the cost to consumers.
Despite the increases by these carmakers, prospective buyers, however, can still rejoice as not all manufacturers are raising their prices.
Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Sdn Bhd, for instance, has announced price reductions for its three new models — C200 Avantgarde (RM248,888), C200 Exclusive (RM252,888) and C250 AMG (RM287,888).
Ford Motor Co has said it has no plans to raise the prices of its pick-up trucks despite the current ringgit headwinds as sales at its local counterpart, Sime Darby Auto Connexion, remained stable.
Ford is the No. 2 pick-up truck maker in Malaysia with a market share of 20 per cent.
BMW Group Malaysia has also announced its decision to maintain its prices for the time being and said it would absorb the impact of the weakening ringgit.
“Currently, we are not increasing or reducing our price... the group is monitoring the fluctuation of ringgit closely.”
Also, it has been reported that Berjaya Auto Bhd is not raising prices of its Mazda cars, although it doest rule out the possibility of doing so if the ringgit breaches the 3.80 level against 100 yen.
“If (the price of) everything starts to increase, it will not be good for the economic environment. (So) we will maintain the current selling price by reducing other expenses,” it said.
Earlier this month, Proton Holdings Bhd said it would maintain its vehicle prices despite incurring higher imported material costs due to the weakening ringgit, according to its chairman, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The national carmaker said it had to sell its cars at the prices fixed by the government.
“Now with the weakened currency weakened, imported material costs are higher but we still try to maintain the price of Proton cars.”
Edaran Tan Chong Motor, when contacted, said it was “monitoring the situation and will be announcing in due time”.