Car reviewers all over the world carry out their work by writing about vehicles given to their care based on their individual experience, knowledge and (to some degree) a balance of reporting what’s the absolute truth as they see it and the business requirements of keeping their magazine/newspaper/website afloat with advertorials and sponsors from manufacturers. It is therefore important for readers to separate fact from fiction and also give allowances to the fact that all reviews are relative. Speed is relative, price is relative …. the size of that anatomy in your trousers that’s often blamed for a win or a lose in a race is relative.
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In the context of a vehicle, having ESP that helps to prevent an accident is a fact. Driving slow to minimize the risk of an accident is relative. Having 6 airbags is a fact. Having 2 airbags and claim that’s good enough to ensure you and your occupants will survive in a side impact is relative. So under this blanket caveat of “relativity”, how do you separate what’s real and what’s relative?
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Simple; numbers.
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Numbers gives you a clear idea of how each model is doing in the market. Numbers also allow manufacturers to be more transparent and benchmark their performance against their rivals. It is this guiding principal that has made most, if not all manufacturers in Malaysia to contribute detailed sales statistics to the Malaysian Automotive Association who then compiles the information and shares them to all its members, which of course include those very manufacturers who are cooperating. We, the general public then can access these statistics via generous members of MAA such as Motor trader and the NST’s CBT
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Then came the Malaysian Competition Act 2010 and this changes everything.
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Recently passed on in Parliment and made a law, the Competition Act 2010 is an Act to promote economic development by promoting and protecting the process of competition, thereby protecting the interests of consumers and to provide for matters connected therewith.
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In other words, it’s supposed to be a safeguard against monopoly and anti-competitive practices …. which is a good thing for us as the rakyat will have a wider range of products and services to choose from, lower prices and better quality and services since it levels the playing field a bit.
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BUT last week, the chief executive officer of MyCC, Shila Dorai Raj has chosen to interpret MAA’s stance in sharing the sales statistics as a violation of the Act as it may facilitate fixing of prices and raise prices of spare parts. Ironically, the one law that’s supposedly encourage healthy competition among manufacturers is being used to hide information, thereby if one competitor does not know what the others are doing and come up with strategies to be more competitive, everyone will now be ignorant and I can imagine unscrupulous sales advisors will start making blatant claims of how well his/her model is doing. The law that asks for transparency and accountability of all players in the field is now a smoke screen to hide facts.
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As a result, each manufacturer have a different interpretation of the Act and the following manufacturers or companies representing the marques have decided to stop providing statistics until further clarification from the government:-
- Peugeot
- Mercedes-Benz
- BMW
- Audi
- Proton
- Isuzu
Whereas the following companies have decided no law is broken and continues to supply detailed sales data:-
- Toyota
- Honda
- Nissan
- Volkswagen
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So, it’s really up to the individual company to decide if they want to continue or not and this makes it so much more difficult for us to verify facts and figures. Rest assured MAA is not sitting idly. Its president, Datuk Aishah Ahmad is contesting MyCC’s stance. Nothing conclusive out of the government yet and I do wish this can be resolved amicably and things go back to what they were.
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If you’re interested to know more about the act, you can download the document here:
Source: http://www.cbt.com.my/2012/07/20/june-2012-sales/
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3 Comments
To promote competition? What a contradiction.
Why must car importers and distributors still need to get their net selling prices approved by the Gomen? Allowing them to set their own prices is really promoting competition.
Breadman, Agree with you and also Kenso when he mentioned that now what salesmen tell customers about how well their brand is doing is nothing more than a smokescreen. In fact, the stand by the MyCC is not going to do much good. As long as a car brand is doing well (in their own terms since they may not have access to JPJ figures) they can sell at whatever price they want. If they can see that a competitor is selling better at a lower price, they can choose to introduce newer models at even more competitive prices to effectively compete. If the figures aren’t there, how will they know whether to price lower or not?
Honestly, no 2 or 3 car brands are going to collaborate to fix prices. It is tough enough out there for all in the business even now with figures available. Not going to be easy to even consider collaborating with a competitor when they are at each other’s necks already now.
Fair competition? Let’s take away the car tax and then we talk about fair competition, Mr. G!
Good article by the way, I am sure not many of us are aware of such laws.
I feel the the car sales statistics is important, as we can gauge the popularity of a certain make/model, which will in turn should have an impact on the resale value. We can call the 2nd hand dealer’s bluff when they claim X car is “cold” but when the stats show that X is selling like hot cakes etc.