The recent car prices issue made me curious. Having been totally unaware of such huge discrepancies between Malaysian and world prices, I went on the Internet to see what real world car prices were. I was shocked.

These are US car prices with US duty and import tax paid, which are just like Malaysian car prices with duty and tax also paid, but here, you will see, they are much lower and less exorbitant than in Malaysia.

Bear in mind all cars are CBU (complete built up) Japan, CBU South Korea or CBU Germany.

The following cars we get here are CKD (complete knocked down) cars with more than 50 percent Malaysian content and "supposedly" are cheaper due to their being CKD and supporting Malaysian manufacturers.

I cannot understand, we support our own Malaysian manufacturers and beli barang buatan (buy local) Malaysia too, and yet the prices can be higher than barang buatan (made in) Japan or German, which is usually higher in quality.

And yet, to make matters worse, US people's GDP per capita is higher than Malaysia and the average American earns five times more than the average Malaysian.

Mainstream car prices

Honda Accord     US$21,480 (RM64,440)         RM150,000

Honda CRV         US$22,495 (RM67,485)         RM150,000

Honda Civic        US$15,955 (RM47,865)         RM115,000

Toyota Altis        US$16,130 (RM48,390)         RM112,000

Toyota Camry     US$22,055 (RM66,165)         RM180,000

Kia Sorento        US$23,150 (RM69,450)         RM160,000

Hyundai Tucson  US$19,245 (RM57,735)         RM140,000

Hyundai Sonata  US$20,895 (RM62,685)         RM150,000

Hyundai Elantra  US$16,695 (RM50,085)         RM98,000

Luxury car prices

BMW 328i           US$36,500 (RM109,500)       RM300,000

BMW 528i           US$46,900 (RM149,000)       RM400,000

BMW 535i           US$52,500 (RM157,000)       RM600,000

BMW X5             US$47,500 (RM142,500)        RM580,000

Mercedes E350   US$51,000 (RM153,000)        RM400,000 (In M'sia for only CKD E250)

Jaguar XF           US$53,000 (RM159,000)       RM500,000

Jaguar XJ           US$73,700 (RM221,000)        RM1,000,000

Porsche Cayenne US$48,850 (RM146,000)       RM570,000

Please forward this to every Malaysian you know so that they may realise how we are being cheated in car prices and have been cheated for the past 30 years.

Most Malaysians pay close to 50 percent of their salary for their monthly payments for their cars.

Not only do the banks get an easy ride (cause everybody is "forced" to take loans), we have to live in debt for over seven years, depriving our family of better food and clothes.