Penang buys new fleet of Toyota Camry for state officials to replace 2013 cars
GEORGE TOWN, Aug 23 — The Penang government has bought 15 new Toyota Camry as official cars for its state executive councillors, legislative assembly speaker and deputy, and other state officials to replace the existing cars of a similar model bought in 2013.
State finance officer Datuk Sarul Bahiyah Abu said the executive council approved the purchase on March 13.
“Each car costs RM184,912.50 after discount by the supplier but there was no tax exemption for the cars,” she said in a statement.
She said the existing official cars have to be replaced as the maintenance costs of the newer cars will be lower while the safety features will be better.
She said the existing cars have been in use for six years and were no longer under the warranty period.
“The maintenance and repair costs for each car are on average RM11,030 per year,” she said.
The total maintenance costs for the 15 cars between 2013 and 2018 totalled an estimated RM992,7000.
Saul Bahiyah said 10 of the 15 old cars will be sold through tender while the remaining five units will still be in use by the state government.
“All 15 cars have been surrendered to the state government on August 15,” she said.
The chief minister’s official car will also be replaced and the state government is still awaiting response from the supplier on the stock availability of an appropriate model.
She said the maintenance costs of the current Mercedes Benz used by the chief minister have increased since 2013.
Maintenance costs for the car was about RM36,169 each year which brings the total maintenance costs to about RM217,014 between 2013 and 2017.
The Pakatan Harapan state government bought 15 black Toyota Camry back in October 2013 at a total cost of RM1.7 million to replace six Mercedes Benz and nine Proton Perdana V6 executive cars that were between 12 and 21 years old.
The then Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng switched his Toyota Camry to a Mercedes Benz S300L at a cost of RM298,263.75 in late 2013.
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