How to get more hybrids on the road

The government has made a step in the right direction last year when they decided to waive excise duties for all hybrid cars in Malaysia. This means that hybrid cars will cost about 30% cheaper than they were compared to last year, and yet, I still have not seen an explosion of hybrids on the roads yet.

So is there an issue when? People used to complainabout hybrids being too expensive. Now that theya re much cheaper, why are there so few on the roads? Maybe people are apprehensive about these cars, and how much maintenance it will cost them over 10 years.

Okay, this I understand. So now, how should the government go about encouraging more hybrid cars to be on the road, and at the same time, lower pollution?



Jeng jeng jeng...

I think I've got an answer!

The government can encourage the corporate sectors to change their entire fleet of company cars to hybrids! How?

Maybe by lowering the selling price by decreasing the import tax on foreign parts of the cars. Maybe by giving them tax exemptions (lower or minimal road tax).

Maybe by increasing depreciation rates for such vehicles from 20% per annum to 25% per annum(which would mean the cars are fully depreciated after jsut 4 years)

Companies would stand to gain a lot more as well if they change their fleets to hybrid cars because usually they will also be giving petrol allowances to company car owners.

When people are given petrol allowances, this will lead to very inefficient driving behaviour by the drivers themselves. Inefficient driving means higher fuel costs incurred by the company.

By switching to hybrids, they will stand to save at least 40-50% on petrol costs because, these cars will be slightly under-powered, and hence not able to be driven in efficiently.

Drivers will then be forced to drive more efficiently than they are used to. Driving efficiently also usually means lower accident rates as being efficient means less speeding and definitely less reckless driving (pedal to the metal).

Lower mortality rates will be achieved on the roads, also because hybrids comes with much better safety features than our average Malaysian company cars.

With the 4 year depreciation, companies are able to dispose of these vehicles sooner than expected and any proceeds from the sale of these cars will be deemed as income to the company.

Hence, a big 2nd hand market will be created for hybrids, and more people will be driving them on the roads as fully depreciated company cars are sold at a much lower price than privately held sellers of cars.

In the end, all I can see is a win-win situation for the government, the public as well as Mother Earth if this plan is put into the works.

Seriously, give this a thought.



Boodyboy, out!!!

Bleak future ahead for us and our future generations?

Reading this report by Bank of America Merril Lynch is a bit worrying.


Basically a short summary from the report would mean this: Malaysia’s relatively high population growth rate will see the country remain comparatively young over the next two decades but economic growth is not expected to keep pace with population expansion.



Of course most of us already know that current living costs here in Malaysia is already very high compared to most countries of similar GDP per capita. And this is despite us "enjoying" subsidies on many items. THings like Petrol, sugar, rice and etc are heavily subsidised by the government.


Looking at the simple statement that our salaries just does not adequately allow us to live a normal lifestyle. While the costs of food, housing and etc have risen significantly over the past 20 years, our salaries have not grown at the same pace. As a result, fresh grads today in actual fact, make less money (in real dollar terms) than their parents did.



So its no surprise to me that in 20 years time, the situation will be no different from now unless drastic action is taken by the government. In the end only ouir kids and grand children will suffer as we earn less and less, and possibly, be even considered poor by most other countries.

For too long now, we have marketed our country as a low cost country to do business. Its been the case for 25-30 years ago. That was when we really needed foreign investments in our country to boost our economy. Fast forward 20 years later, we are already becoming a strong economy desptie the crippling "Affirmative Action" policies by the government.



However, it has slowed our growth a lot more compared to other countries that didnt have these policies. A good example would be South Korea. They started industrialising at the same time of us but look at how big and strong their economy and companies are today. And this is despite them going through several huge recessions (esp in 1997) and mismanagement of the economy by the goverment.



They key for us to succeed and grow even faster is to remove all these crippling policies like quotas that have no specific benefit to the enitre nation (only to a certain ethnic group). Policies like these are no different from the Apartheid in South Africa except that in our situation, its making us disabled and uncompetitive compared to every1 else.




The sooner we lift all these restrictions, our local companies will be on the same level playing field as other international competitors. And I have no doubt that we have the entrepreneurial talent to compete against these big boys. Maybe one day we will see the likes of Genting, Maxis and et al becoming major household names like Samsung and Hyundai.



That way, our economy and our income can finally grow and catch up with our pace of growth. Just ask anyone, in most companies, the average rate of increment given is just about the same level as our inflation, if not lower. Our fixed deposit rates in banks are definitely lower than inflation rate. If this goes on, there can only be 1 way we are going. DOWN!








Boodyboy, out!!!