THE rich are getting richer under Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration, as evidenced by an increase in luxury car sales, said lawmaker Ong Kian Ming.

Ong, who is with Penang Institute in Kuala Lumpur, said luxury car sales had been increasing over the past five years, while the bottom 40% (B40) income group could not afford to buy cars.

“What surprised me was the finding that despite overall car sales taking a big hit, the sales of Mercedes-Benz and BMW models increased significantly during this period,” said the Serdang MP in a statement today.

According to the Statistics Department’s Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey Report 2016, the B40 group has a median income of RM3,000.

Ong said Mercedes saw an increase in sales from 5,413 units in 2013 to 12,067 last year, or a 122.9% jump, BMW sales increased from 7,057 units in 2013 to 10,618 last year (50.5%) and Volvo sales were up from 533 units in 2013 to 1,021 last year (91.6%).

“Passenger car sales in Malaysia have dropped from 576,657 units in 2013 to 514,769 this year, a decrease of 61,978 units, or 10.7%.

“This takes place against a backdrop of what is supposedly a healthy and growing economy,” he said, although noting that Perodua managed to see a 4.5% increase in sales.

He said foreign non-luxury carmakers saw a slight decline in sales, from 222,766 units in 2013 to 211,843 last year – a drop of 4.9% – unlike foreign luxury car sales, which increased from 19,067 units in 2013 to 26,958 last year, a 41.4% hike.

“I also calculated the change in car sales for foreign non-luxury carmakers (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Kia, Subaru and others in the same category), as well as foreign luxury carmakers (Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Porsche, Lexus, Audi and others in the same category), and found similar trends.”

Ong said these trends had been in place before the opening of the Mass Rapid Transit Line 1 in July last year, and Barisan Nasional would not be able to argue that fewer people were buying cars because they used public transport.

“These figures reveal what the person on the street is feeling. The economy is getting bigger, but it is the rich who are mostly benefiting, leaving the rest of us to struggle with increases in the cost of living.” – February 27, 2018.