KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Mercedes-Benz Malaysia will invest RM280 million until 2019, mainly to upgrade its production facilities, paint shops and dealer networks as well as to introduce new models, its president and chief executive officer, Roland Folger said.

He said the company had invested RM500 million since its incorporation in 2003.

Speaking to reporters following a media briefing on the company’s 2014 sales performance here today, he described 2014 as a record-breaking year for Mercedes-Benz, with sale of 9,419 vehicles, up 17 per cent from 8,082 in 2013.

“The best-selling model in 2014 was the A-Class with a full year of introduction to the market.

“Moving forward, we expect sales to increase more than 17 per cent in 2015, exceeding that of 2014,” Folger said.

On whether the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April would affect car prices, he said it would not have a direct impact on Mercedes-Benz.

“There are a lot of additional costs involved, such as inflation. And logically, when you replace the sales and services tax with GST at six per cent, the prices should go down.

“The price increase is due to inflation. We are always talking about making Malaysia a high-income nation and that translates to higher costs.

“Some of these costs through inflation will have to be added to vehicles as well, but singularly picking out GST as the main reason for price increase is not right.

“We definitely are not going to raise our vehicle prices on April 1 when GST commences,” Folger said.

On the effects of the exchange rates, he said Mercedes-Benz Malaysia would strive to mitigate them.

“Mercedes-Benz Malaysia won’t go and say that due to the strengthening of the Euro versus the ringgit, we have to increase vehicle prices. We don’t do that.

“If a car manufacturer were to raise its prices, it has to bare in mind that it is competing against others,” he said.

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia has a production plant in Pekan, Pahang - one of six completely-knocked-down passenger cars plant in the world.

The company manages the wholesale distribution of Mercedes-Benz, Smart and Mitsubishi Fuso vehicles, service and spare parts, and has 58 authorised dealers and 87 outlets providing sales and after-sales services nationwide. — Bernama