Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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SHAH ALAM (Oct 5): UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd will be increasing the price of its Toyota and Lexus vehicles by between 4% and 16% across all models from January 2016, due to the falling ringgit against the US dollar.

In a statement today, the car manufacturer said it has implemented strategic moves to protect the interest of its customers in the midst of the fluctuating ringgit, and absorbed additional costs to a certain extent over the past months.

However, UMW Toyota said it has weighed all possible options, but has no choice except to pass on some costs to the consumers to offset rising input costs due to the strengthening of the US dollar against the local currency.

Year-to-date, the ringgit has depreciated by almost 20% to the US dollar, thus increasing cost of operations for UMW Toyota, it said.

"Since the beginning of this year, the fluctuation of the ringgit has impacted our business as some of our parts and components are imported, resulting in an increase in overall cost of production. We have implemented cost-efficiency measures and reviewed our operations across the supply chain to mitigate the weaker ringgit," UMW Toyota Motor president Datuk Ismet Suki said in the statement.

"The company would have implemented necessary measures to minimise forex losses impact and address the fluctuation of the ringgit if it dropped gradually. Unfortunately, the sudden and huge fluctuation of the ringgit within a short period has given great impact to our operations.

"Hence, the company will have to increase the prices of Toyota and Lexus vehicles effective January 2016. The increase is inevitable as there is no clear indication on when the ringgit will rebound," he added.

"We have tried our level best to keep the price increase as minimal as possible although with the increase of our vehicle price, we could only recover partially, not 100% from the impact we have been absorbing.

"If the ringgit continues to slide in the near future, we may need to review our pricing structure again," said Ismet.

Ismet is optimistic that the price increase would not have a big impact on sales, with UMW Toyota currently on track to meet its business targets.

"We are facing challenging times but UMW Toyota is confident we can ride out the storm. We have strong fundamentals and a proven track record. I believe customers will continue to choose us and our vehicles as we deliver quality products and services that complement their lifestyles," he said.

As at August 2015, Toyota accounted for 15% of market shares of various marques, according to Malaysian Automobile Association.

 

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