KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Honda Malaysia continues its strong momentum built from 2014, and wraps up with a total sales of 21,563 units in the first quarter of this year, cementing its leading position in the non-national vehicle segment ahead of rival Toyota. In March alone, the company managed to sell 9,000 vehicles, its highest ever monthly total.
Leading the charge is the all-new HR-V, which has managed to garner an impressive total of 10,000 bookings since its launch in February this year. The company has had to ramp up production at its Pegoh Plant in Malacca to shorten the popular model’s lengthy waiting period. Elsewhere in the range, the new CR-V, along with the City, Jazz, Civic, and Accord, all successfully maintain market leadership of their respective segments.
Speaking at a media briefing session hosted by the company, Honda Malaysia’s managing director and chief executive officer Yoichiro Ueno stated, “Coming into 2015, we had a perspective that the first quarter would be uncertain due to the impact of GST which would be implemented from April 1. Despite the assumption of weak market sentiment due to the ‘wait and see’ attitude and world oil prices, the automotive industry was much healthier than expected.”
Continuing his discussion on the subject of GST, Ueno noted that, “In the automotive industry, the difference in the car prices is not as straightforward as 10 per cent minus six per cent as there are many factors involved. The main difference in the tax calculation is the difference in the taxable base for SST and GST.
“For example, the SST was based on the distributors value of the car and is then charged 10 per cent tax excluding dealer margins, transportation cost, handling fee, accessories and other miscellaneous distribution cost while GST is charged based on the final selling price of the car on the road.”
Ueno then revealed that switchover from the outgoing SST to the new GST regime will see Honda’s CKD models enjoy reduced taxation which the company plans to pass down to its customers. He confirmed that the Jazz, City, Civic, CR-V, Accord, and the newly-launched HR-V will all enjoy reduction in prices between RM500 and RM2,500 once GST takes effect.
The variance in price reduction is due to differences in features and accessories fitted to different model variants.
The fully-imported Odyssey MPV, however, will see its price increased slightly between RM500 and RM1,000.
Ueno added, “The price of our spare parts will also be reduced by an average of 3.7 per cent across all models. GST will be added to the labour charge. However, due to the reduction of the spare parts price, we estimate that the total maintenance cost will be reduced by two to four per cent depending on the model.”KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Honda Malaysia continues its strong momentum built from 2014, and wraps up with a total sales of 21,563 units in the first quarter of this year, cementing its leading position in the non-national vehicle segment ahead of rival Toyota. In March alone, the company managed to sell 9,000 vehicles, its highest ever monthly total.
Leading the charge is the all-new HR-V, which has managed to garner an impressive total of 10,000 bookings since its launch in February this year. The company has had to ramp up production at its Pegoh Plant in Malacca to shorten the popular model’s lengthy waiting period. Elsewhere in the range, the new CR-V, along with the City, Jazz, Civic, and Accord, all successfully maintain market leadership of their respective segments.
Speaking at a media briefing session hosted by the company, Honda Malaysia’s managing director and chief executive officer Yoichiro Ueno stated, “Coming into 2015, we had a perspective that the first quarter would be uncertain due to the impact of GST which would be implemented from April 1. Despite the assumption of weak market sentiment due to the ‘wait and see’ attitude and world oil prices, the automotive industry was much healthier than expected.”
Continuing his discussion on the subject of GST, Ueno noted that, “In the automotive industry, the difference in the car prices is not as straightforward as 10 per cent minus six per cent as there are many factors involved. The main difference in the tax calculation is the difference in the taxable base for SST and GST.
“For example, the SST was based on the distributors value of the car and is then charged 10 per cent tax excluding dealer margins, transportation cost, handling fee, accessories and other miscellaneous distribution cost while GST is charged based on the final selling price of the car on the road.”
Ueno then revealed that switchover from the outgoing SST to the new GST regime will see Honda’s CKD models enjoy reduced taxation which the company plans to pass down to its customers. He confirmed that the Jazz, City, Civic, CR-V, Accord, and the newly-launched HR-V will all enjoy reduction in prices between RM500 and RM2,500 once GST takes effect.
The variance in price reduction is due to differences in features and accessories fitted to different model variants.
The fully-imported Odyssey MPV, however, will see its price increased slightly between RM500 and RM1,000.
Ueno added, “The price of our spare parts will also be reduced by an average of 3.7 per cent across all models. GST will be added to the labour charge. However, due to the reduction of the spare parts price, we estimate that the total maintenance cost will be reduced by two to four per cent depending on the model.”
