Make them exempt from import and excise duties and “robust growth” will follow. That’s Malaysia’s hybrid and plug-in vehicle scheme. From now through December of 2013, all hybrid and plug-in vehicles sold in Malaysia will be completely exempt from import and export duties.
Malaysia’s finance minister, Najib Razak, says that the duty exemption is to “promote green technology and ensure sustainable development” by encouraging domestic assembly of electric vehicles and hybrids. Kavan Mukhtyar, Frost & Sullivan’s transportation head for the Asia-Pacific region, says the duty exemptions will indeed encourage automakers to launch hybrids in Malaysia:
This will drive robust growth in the hybrid market over the next few years. We expect hybrid volumes to exceed 10,000 units [annually] by 2013.
10,000. That’s not much, is it? Well, since Toyota sold only 162 Prius hybrids in Malaysia through the first eight months of 2011, moving up to 10,000 hybrids sold there per year would be quite an achievement.
