** Yangon **

10. The Situation of the cars in Myanmar

Basically it is prohibited to import a car in Myanmar.   But we can see a lot of new cars on the road. However, generally speaking, most of the cars are getting older and older.

On the other hand, the prices are going up. For example, when I came here in 95, I bought a 5 year old TOYOTA Mark ｭｶ which was U$11,000.   But now I can sell it at around U$14,000.

The engine of the car had become out of order from a couple of days ago, so it was replaced.   The new engine was a second hand one.

When I bought the car, the meter showed 40.000km, but when I opened the door there was a sticker next to the oil change which says 96,000km in Japanese.   The meter was intentionally amended by someone.   I thought that he didn't understand what was written there, because it was written in Japanese.

MazdaR360(Photo on left : Mazda R360 truck model. This is a Taxi for Burmese)

The Burmese a car is just like a real estate. It's better for them to have a car rather than hold money.   The value of a car doesn't devaluate like local currency. Some of our staff have their own cars.

Their salary are based on US$.  They are the elites of their society, however, their cars are also getting older and older.   Sometimes they are 15 years old or more than 20 years old.

I don't know now , but up to two and half years ago, there was a factory which produced cars in Myanmar.   The factory was built by MAZDA with an aid of the Japanese Government a long time ago, and they produced the R 360 truck model.

Since the economic sanction in 88, there had not been any aid from the Japanese Government and the Burmese government could not receive the supply of parts from Mazda.   Only a few cars with the name of Mazda kept being produced.

They produced a type of jeep too. It was produced for government officials and armies.   Many of those are still seen on the road.

However those types of models have not been changed for many years, performances of those car are very poor.   The window glass of the car is just flat, not curved glass and tempered glass.   Just recently Isuzu and Suzuki began to produce cars at their assembling factory in Myanmar.

More than 90% of cars in Myanmar are made in Japan.   The numbers of wagon types are more than those of the sedan type.   Those wagons have company logos written in Japanese.   For the Burmese, it's a symbol of their status, so they are very proud of those logos.   But the Japanese may misunderstand that "Oh! I know that company very well. Is their branch office in this country?"

In Yangon, there are a few motor bikes.   This situation is different from other major cities in South East Asia.   However in Mandalay, the second major city, there are many motor bikes and bicycles like Saigon or Bangkok.

The reasons why in Yangon there are only a few bikes are; rainy season and the regulation by the government.   In the rainy seasons, the amount of rain is so huge.   It is difficult to drive a motor bike in the rain.   The government is strictly regulating the number of motor bikes in Yangon City because of traffic congestion.   But Suzuki is producing motor bikes, so in future the government may ease the regulation.

Gasoline is rationed 12 litter per week for a private car.   If the car consumes more than that, the owner has to get gasoline from the black market.   You can easily find such sellers any at places.   Along the road there is a spot which placed a pet bottle on the bricks.   That is a sign to say that here is a gasoline.

The seller hides a tank of gasoline in the gutter along the road.   They don't care if there is a police man near.   The salary for a public servant or army is cheap but they receive rice, soy source, candles, sugar, as a part of their salary.   Gasoline is also one of them.   They are rationed more than 12 litter per week per a car.   Then they sell the surplus to get cash.   The price of gasoline is approximately Yen 50/l.   It is almost same as Australia but very expensive for Burmese.

The salary for common labor is approximately Yen 70/day.   Their salary has been increased on the basis of local currency but the value of it was reduced 20 to 30% from 5 years ago due to the inflation and devaluation.

a bus (Photo on right : a bus produced before World War)

In Myanmar, people walk on the left side of the road and cars run on the right side of the road as in the USA.   This country used to be a colony of England and dominated by Japan during World War 2.   Those two country are opposite way in the road.   Vietnam is the same as Myanmar and the USA.

In this country more than 90% of cars are second hand cars from Japan, so the steering wheel is on the right side of a car.   It is very difficult to drive a car which has right side wheel on the right side of the road.   When I went to Vietnam, I couldn't see any right side wheel car.   Maybe Vietnamese government's regulation is much stricter than Myanmar.   Vietnamese government also has stronger economic back ground than Myanmar.

   
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