Mercedes-Benz Malaysia has planned to maintain prices in 2016

Kuala Lumpur: Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd’s Mercedes-Benz Malaysia has assured customers that there will be no price increase for all its car models in the short- and medium-term amid currency fluctuations.

“We try to use all financial instruments and measures available in order to compensate and to have a long-term steady pricing strategy,” Mercedes-Benz vice-president of passenger cars Mark Raine told a press conference in conjunction with the announcement of the company’s third-quarter results here yesterday.

Raine said while Mercedes-Benz has been impacted by the volatility of the ringgit, it will maintain prices of its vehicles in the interest of its customers.

“Currently, we are lobbying the government to allow us to continue offering our models with the same prices going into 2016. On our side, we have always maintained a support for Malaysia in its positioning to become an EEV hub in the region, and we continue to be optimistic of our chances at maintaining our models’ current prices,” he said.

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“We continuously track and review the development of the exchange rate, we’ve got a whole team of people looking at that. For the short- to medium-term, we do not foresee any price increase. If there are greater fluctuations or (its more) long-term (in nature), that we have to review it obviously,” he added. Raine noted that Mercedes-Benz has been expanding aggressively into the Malaysian market. “We’ve got a five-year investment plan where we invest over RM100 million into the Malaysian market and this is a key factor of our recent success,” he said.

Throwing more focus on the current status of the MBM models, the S 400L which was formerly known as the S 400 L Hybrid and E-Class E 300h (E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid) enjoy full duty exemptions under the 2014 National Automotive Policy (NAP). Should no tax-free status extension be awarded to the models by the authorities, their RM583,888 (S 400h) and RM338,888 (E 300h) prices could revert to their original figures, which we understand could be nearly double.

In addition, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia has also announced the reduction in prices of few models that are said to be made locally assembled from now onwards (including W205 C-Class range). The base C 200 Avantgarde will be available at RM248,888 (RM21,000 reduction), while the new top-spec CKD C 250 AMG Line is priced for RM287,888 (RM52,000 less than the earlier CBU model).

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This was achieved by the C-Class range qualifying for the Energy Efficient Vehicle (EEV) duty incentives, and is unrelated to the full tax exemptions awarded to locally-assembled hybrid models. Other models to have benefitted from the EEV policy include the locally-assembled Mazda CX-5, Mazda 3, Honda City, Honda Jazz, Perodua Axia and the Great Wall M4.

Raine is optimistic that the company can maintain its sales momentum for the fourth quarter and next year due to the attractiveness of its cars. Meanwhile, he said the company is hoping the government will extend the incentive period for hybrid vehicles, which will expire at the end of this year. “We’ve applied, we are optimistic it will continue, but at the moment there is no firm indication. We hope the government will grant us the extension for a longer time period,” he said.