KUALA LUMPUR: The impact on businesses in Malaysia has less to do with fuel subsidy but around competition, said Sime Darby Bhd group chief executive officer Datuk Jeffri Salim Davidson.
"We have seen a lot of new entrants into the market, a lot of new Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) coming in.
"If anything, I think that will be an interesting space to see how this will impact the car market in Malaysia," he said at Sime Daby's full-year results briefing today.
He added that in the long term, fuel subsidies will have an impact, but the equilibrium will then settle back.
Sime Darby group chief financial officer Muhammad Noor Abd Aziz said demand for the group's vehicles may remain strong especially for Toyota Hilux.
The Hilux is the second most important model to the group.
He said the introduction of the diesel subsidy rationalisation had made the market "more exciting".
From the initial report received from its Ford and Toyota units, he said, there was some reaction i.e wait-and-see approach ftom consumers.
"(But) we expect the demand to continue to be strong especially for the Hilux," he added.