Budget 2022 comments: Automotive sector

Socar head of regulatory affairs Wan Md Hazlin Agyl Wan Hassan

We applaud the focus on Malaysia’s journey towards being a carbon neutral country by the year 2050, as announced in Budget 2022, specifically on the potential of electric vehicles (EV) towards achieving this goal.

At Socar, we believe the adoption of EVs will be fast-tracked with the government’s support, in providing full exemption on import duties, excise duties and sales tax for EVs, as well as road tax exemption of up to 100% for these vehicles.

Socar welcomes the individual income tax relief of up to RM2,500 given to taxpayers for the purchase and installation or alternatively the rental and hire purchase of facilities, as well as for paying subscription fees for EV charging facilities. This first step taken will improve EV acceptance and expand the ecosystem of EV-adjacent industries in Malaysia. With the Voluntary Carbon Market scheduled to be launched by Bursa Malaysia, we also believe this will further encourage green asset owners to expand their low-carbon practices.

For a car sharing platform like Socar, who are enabling drivers in Malaysia to use private cars without the financial commitment required to own one, having clarity on these incentives will help us plan our business strategy more effectively, in turn enabling more Malaysians to benefit from our future EV fleet. We are ready to play our part in supporting the government’s agenda to achieve the status of a carbon neutral country by providing accessibility to EVs in order to accelerate its adoption in Malaysia.

BMW Group Malaysia managing director Hans de Visser

The announcements made at Budget 2022 marked a welcome step towards electrified mobility – one that has long been in the making for Malaysia. The government’s motion to further incentivise and support the development of the EV industry in Malaysia moves in the same vein as our vision for electrified mobility at the BMW Group.

We have always believed that the future is electric, and we have been at the forefront of electrified mobility in Malaysia since 2015, when we introduced BMW i. It was a bold move then, and it is an even bolder move now as we continue to shape the future of mobility with our strategies for electrification that will hopefully accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in Malaysia.

As the country’s leading provider of premium electrified vehicles, we have already delivered over 21,000 electrified BMW and Mini to Malaysians to date.

We remain committed to driving initiatives for innovation, awareness on new and clean technology, and developing more infrastructure for premium electrified vehicles in Malaysia. As before, we have consistently unveiled innovations and initiated collaborations with key stakeholders to ensure a functioning ecosystem for electromobility to thrive in.

BMW Group Malaysia has been driving the change with electrification with our growing portfolio of fully electric vehicles here, and we look forward to continuing doing so with our upcoming fleet of the next-generation BMW i vehicles.

On this note, we welcome the newly announced allocations in Budget 2022 that will further drive this shared vision for electrified mobility forward. We celebrate with Malaysia on the latest announcement of full exemptions on import duties, excise duties, and sales tax for electric vehicles – which will not only increase uptake but encourage further development of the EV infrastructure and ecosystem to drive smarter, low carbon communities and cities in the country.