NAP reviews half-baked hybrid car incentives — Paul Tan
OCT 29 — Now that most of the regional automotive manufacturing and assembly has gone to Thailand, the biggest buzzword that had been uttered repeatedly during the period where the NAP review was being formulated was hybrid cars and green technology.
So we had to shift focus. The government was quite bent on trying to get a piece of the green pie instead. Or so it seemed, there was plenty of talk in the papers. And you know what they say, supposedly in Asean you build your pick-ups in Thailand, your MPVs and vans in Indonesia and your passenger cars in Malaysia. That’s supposedly what kept Volkswagen interested despite flip-flop partnership decisions in the first place.
The new National Automotive Policy review offers a cocktail of R&D grants, duty exemptions, fiscal incentives to whoever invests in the assembly or manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles. For automakers, you’ll get 100 per cent Pioneer Status/Investment Tax Allowance for 10 years, training and R&D grants in addition to existing grants, 50 per cent exemption on excise duty on CKD/manufactured vehicles from the IAF. For hybrid parts suppliers such as electric motors, batteries, battery management system, inverters, electric-powered air-conditioning, and air compressors, you will get 100 per cent Pioneer Status for 10 years and 100 per cent Investment Tax Allowance for five years.
