30% Of Car Dealers May Close Down Before 2022?

More than 30 percent of the 4,600 members of the Federation of Motor and Credit Companies Associations of Malaysia (FMCCAM) are at risk of closing permanently before 2022 if the lockdown continues for another few months.

This was the message its president Tony Khor sent at a recent virtual meeting with Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong.

Khor added that its members faced losses of nearly RM 300 million in the recent lockdown. He also voiced that second-hand car dealers and credit companies should be placed under essential services as they are the intermediaries to the survival of small and micro-businesses.

“When small and micro businesses are running out of savings, they will consider selling their cars so that they have the cash to roll, to survive and to fight for another day.

“But how can they sell their cars or trucks if the automotive sector, including showrooms, are not allowed to operate?” Khor expressed.

According to the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) report, the automotive sector contributes RM 57 billion annual revenue and 6.8 million cars under finance.

“There’s no time to lose in reopening the automotive sector. In our business in this pandemic, there are few window shoppers. We hardly have 10 potential customers a day,” said Khor.

Meanwhile, Wee said that businesses must ensure their employees and customers are fully vaccinated if their sectors operate under the National Recovery Plan (NRP).

“People must not be complacent or relaxed about the standard operating procedures (SOP) in the workplace or anywhere else, even among the fully vaccinated. This is the bare minimum obligation that all businesses must give for the government to be convinced it is safe enough to allow them to reopen,” said Wee.

Wee added that not only the automotive industry needed to be reopened but its entire supply chain from showrooms to the factories that assemble the parts and components.

“I will bring up the associations’ feedback for discussion in the cabinet,” Wee said.

The virtual discussion was joined by FMCCAM president, Malaysian Automotive Association president Datuk Aishah Ahmad, Honda Dealers Association Malaysia chairman Datuk Mahfoz Hamid, Perodua Dealers Association president Khairul Nizam Ayob, Toyota Dealers Council Malaysia president Simon Thong, Proton Edar Dealers Association Malaysia president Liew Vee Lee, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon and Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Lim Ban Hong.