Booked a MyVi but still haven’t got it? Here’s why it’s taking so long

Imagine, you’re fresh out of school, you’ve secured yourself a decent job and you’re renting your own place. You’re out there being a responsible adult, congrats!!🎊🥳 And now it’s time to make that all important commitment– dun, dun dun, your first car. But ehhhhhh that was last year’s story. It’s been a whole 12 months and you’re still waiting on your car???

Unfortunately, that’s been the reality these days, with people waiting up to 13 months for their Perodua Alza, while the ever so famous Myvi averages at about 6.5 months. That’s long, sure, but then again stuff happened a couple years back so ofc got delay here and there. This is nothing out of the ordinary, right?

No, wrong. Because the waiting period for a Proton is only 2-ish months— which is less than half the time! So now you might be wondering, what is it about these Perodua cars that has their waitlist stretching like a Friday night KL jam?

 

The entire world is short of semiconductors

Semiconductors are like the hearts and brains of electronics, meaning if there’s no semiconductor, there’s no phone or computer or car. Yall remember how the whole world shifted to remote work for a couple of years? It actually caused a massive spike for computers and phones and so the chips went that way. But when the world was moving again, people were clamoring to get out of their homes and ofc they needed cars.

The major kicker here is that these chips are not interchangeable. Like you can’t use a phone chip for a car or the other way round. So when they needed the kickstart the car chips production, they actually had to bring back the entire fabrication plant online, which took months. Imagine waking a sleeping bear from hibernation, it’s that tough! On top of that, these factories needed to test those chips and package them which took another couple more months. And in that time, the backlog just kept growing.

All in all, the industry took a hit and it will take a while more for things to get back on track. According to experts, that’s sometime in 2024. In the meantime though, Perodua has announced that they’re looking to diversify their sources and vendors.

So that’s on a global scale, but what about things closer to home?

 

Malaysia’s SST exemption meant cars were going for about RM1k cheaper

Malaysians are simple people. We see discounts and we lose our minds. That’s kinda been the case here when the government introduced the PENJANA Stimulus package back in 2020. It was one of those financial relief packages to get people and their businesses back on their feet post Korvied. And one of their incentives included a 100% sales tax discount on locally assembled cars.

Okay, sure, in the grand scheme of things, 1k is not a lot when you’re forking out a massive 20-30k already. But hey, never look a gift horse in the mouth, right? And honestly, at a time when people were losing jobs and money was tight, RM 1k went a long way.

But here’s the thing: the exemptions ran all the way up to to June 2022, and most people by then had more or less gotten back on their feet. So while the discount still existed, a large number of Malaysians took the opportunity to book their cars. It was later announced that with the help of the the exemptions, the order backlog had surpassed 500k, and roughly 38% of that total was made up of Perodua vehicles!

So yeah, you could say the current wait is due to situations the world as a whole has encountered in the past couple of years. All these recently cropped up reasons aside tho…

 

When it comes down to it, Myvis are decent budget cars

It’s no secret that cars are expensive in Malaysia. In fact, it’s so expensive that car loans are actually the #2 reason why Malaysians go bankrupt. Just look at this price comparison for a Toyota Camry!

Now, when you see the price of a Malaysian made Myvi…

That’s less than half the cost! If you’re thinking, Toyata is imported and Myvi is local so ofc got price difference ma… well, there’s a little more to it than a simple foreign vs domestic explanation.

You see, Malaysia has this thing called the National Automotive Policy, which actually protects its automobile manufacturers (i.e. Proton and Perodua) from foreign competition. What this means is that Malaysia has deliberately raised the price of foreign cars by lobbing a bunch of import duties and excise tax to encourage people to opt for local cars instead.

So now it comes down to a Proton vs. Perodua showdown.

Because like we said at the beginning, the wait for a Proton is nowhere near as long as a Perodua. So does that mean Perodua has better cars? Lol as if we would give you a straight answer for that. But the general consensus on the Internet is that Peroduas are a lot more fuel efficient than Protons and that might just tip the scale in Perodua’s favour.

 

Is buying a Perodua car worth the wait tho?

Another way to look at this is to question why Malaysians need cars in the first place. There’s no need to sugarcoat the fact that our public transport system leaves a lot to be desired, so cars are really the most reliable form of commute. Unless you’d rather walk everywhere like a Hobbit.

And with money being a limiting factor, especially given the mismatch between the earning capacity of Malaysians and the somewhat high cost of living, most people are going to opt for a budget-friendly car anyway. That is to say, you not only have to consider the cost of buying one, but the cost of maintaining it too, which include expenses like servicing and petrol. This article breaks down the most affordable cars in the country and no surprise here, it’s populated by Perodua cars.

So yes, if money is a factor to you, your Myvi is definitely worth the wait. But if you’re not feeling particularly patient, you could always join the secondhand Myvi gang and let someone else do the waiting.