Examining figures over the past five years, Ong said there was a disconnect between “the healthy GDP growth figures which (Prime Minister) Najib Razak and his cabinet like to talk about and the feeling among the people on the street that life is not improving for them”.

In a statement, the DAP MP said the numbers showed that “the rich get richer and buy more Mercedes and BMWs while those in the B40 group cannot afford to buy cars”.

Ong, who is DAP’s assistant national director for political education, said passenger car sales had dropped from 576,657 units in 2013 to 514,769 units in 2018, a decrease of 61,978 units or 10.7%.

He added that this took place against a backdrop of what was “supposedly” a healthy and growing economy.

Only Perodua, now the largest car seller in Malaysia, managed to buck the trend by increasing its sales by 4.5% from 196,071 units in 2013 to 204,887 units in 2017.

“What surprised me was the finding that despite overall car sales taking a big hit, the sale of Mercedes and BMWs increased significantly during this period,” Ong said.

Mercedes’ sales increased by 122.9% from 5,413 units in 2013 to 12,067 units in 2017 while BMW sales increased by 50.5%, from 7,057 units in 2013 to 10,618 units in 2017.

Quoting figures from the Malaysian Automotive Association, Ong said the sale of Volvo cars also increased by 91.6% from 533 units in 2013 to 1,021 units in 2017.

“I also calculated the change in car sales for foreign non-luxury carmakers (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Kia, Subaru and others in the same category) as well as foreign luxury carmakers (Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Porsche, Lexus, Audi and others in the same category) and found similar trends.

“The foreign non-luxury carmakers experienced a slight decline in car sales, from 222,766 units in 2013 to 211,843 units in 2017, a drop of 4.9%. But the foreign luxury carmakers increased their overall sales from 19,067 units in 2013 to 26,958 units in 2017, an increase of 41.4%.”

Ong said these trends were in place even before the opening of the MRT Line 1 in July 2017.

“So it is difficult for BN (Barisan Nasional) to argue that fewer people are buying cars because they are using public transportation.”

The MP said the car sales figures revealed that despite an expanding economy, it was the rich who were mostly benefiting, leaving the rest to struggle with the increase in cost of living.