I have been fascinated with hybrid cars ever since I first read of it in Readers' Digest in the early 2000s. I find it a very practical vehicle for it is able to run 600km with a mere fuel consumption of 30L. That's 3x more than what I have to pay for fuel back then, when it costs RM1.something (I think it was RM1.52). Five or so years down the road, Malaysia has yet to make any breakthroughs in encouraging the use of hybrid vehicles. The one and only hybrid car I saw was a Honda City sometime this year. A sea blue-ish cute car with a 'hybrid' badge at the back.
From the looks of it, what the government is concerned about is to explode their income rather than to safeguard the wellbeing of the nation and its people. Sharir Samad could have also come up with the idea of reducing import taxes for hybrid cars or providing a 2-year road tax for all hybrid car users for free. Nevermind that that particular vehicle costs RM50,000 more than its sister with the more primitive engine. At an increase of RM0.78, that RM50,000 can be recuperated within.. 64K liters. But that's not all.
Since a hybrid engine consumes less petrol than ordinary cars, that would make the owners and drivers to be less worried about travelling. If Mr. Wang travels 25k kilometers in a year or 68.5km a day (many people travel more than that), at a petrol consumption rate of 1L for every 10km, he would've consumed 2500L for that particular year.
This site says that you can get a fuel efficiency of 4.66L per 100km, a savings of 5.34L. So now, to travel 25000km a year, Mr. Wang would only require 1165L of petrol. That's a savings of 1335L and when translated into RM, it becomes RM3604.50. Per year, for a fixed distance of 25000km.
Uih.. lama jugak nak tunggu 13 tahun baru dapat recover, if we consider comparison between fuels alone but don't forget, there's also the factor of car maintenance where a hybrid can last 3x longer without maintenance as compared to an ordinary car. A Civic Hybrid (mentioned in the previous link) needs to be maintained once every 15000km. Mr. Wang spends approximately RM250 per maintenance every 5000km and services his car promptly, in a year, he would've spent RM1250. A hybrid however, (now here's just a speculation, since Honda says that hybrids are maintained just like any other ordinary car), would cost RM500 to maintain, every 30000km, a savings of RM750.
Pile up this savings and that of the petrol, we get a savings of RM4354.50/year.
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This is what happens when you on plan in your head but not on paper..
Anyways, my point is simple. If the government thinks of taking care of its citizens, they would have lots of other perspectives to look at and make headways based on those perspectives. Malaysia could even one day manage distributorship of hybrid cars in SEA, if it is done right. What I can see for now is that the country's managers are trying to siphon some of their 'gifts' to us the citizens.
Kalau dalam BM, ni kira buruk siku la ni.. Tapi on a bigger scale.. Somewhat like peras ugut.
One thing's for sure, promoting hybrid cars will not have much impact on the lower income earners. It's too much to expect a hybrid Saga, I think, although a hybrid MyVi doesn't sound that bad. Or a hybrid Nautica.
BTW, my arguments above are purely personal in nature. From observations, calculations and experience. Don't see me in court! :D
