The Malay Vehicle Importers and Traders Association (Pekema) has appealed to the federal government particularly Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to relax the new guidelines on hire purchase loan which it said has hampered sales of imported and locally-assembled cars.

NONE Its president Zainuddin Abdul Rahman said relaxation of the guidelines was important to ensure the continued development of the automotive industry.

“We expect a weaker automotive industry this year because of the tighter loan restrictions by Bank Negara. We also expect the imported car market to drop 30 percent this year,” he said to reporters after attending Sabah Pekema Dinner and Pekema Foundation donation in Kota Kinabalu last night.                     

He said according to statistics the number of imported cars reached 610,000 units last year while the unsold units were about 15,000.

Zainuddin said Pekema has targeted total imported cars of 615,000 units for this year despite the uncertain economic condition.

“Although imported cars have its own market but due to its price of over RM100,000, we expect to be hit harder than the local car segment.

“Due to this, we are requesting the government or Bank Negara to relax slightly the hire purchase guidelines,” he said.

On imported car sales in the country, Zainuddin said generally sales value was not static as prices of imported cars vary. However, the import duties paid by car importers last year amounted to close to RM1 billion.

- Bernama