The government is going back to the drawing board on the decision to discontinue Approved Permits (AP) to import cars, as the situation is "more complicated" than expected.

International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed (right) said that the government will commission a study on this after Chinese New Year to gauge the impact on all stakeholders, especially on bumiputera involvement in the industry.

However, until a decision is made, the previous deadline for a stop to APs by Dec 2015 stands.

"We are not backtracking. After engaging various stakeholders, including AP holders, we found the issue is more complicated than what we thought in the beginning.

"The AP holders say they create employment and bumiputera participation while others talk about a level playing field," he said.

Among the terms of reference for the study, he said, was to look at the level of investments AP holders have made to the industry and economy.

He was speaking to the media after launching the National Automotive Policy (NAP) 2014-2020.

In a media briefing on the NAP last week, Malaysia Automotive Institute chief executive officer Madani Sahari (left, in photo) said that APs now exist merely for “statistical purposes” of tracking the number of vehicle imports into Malaysia.

He also stressed that the AP has no bearing on car prices and that, today, any importer can obtain APs by applying directly to it.

This goes against published research showing that APs are provided to politically-linked individuals, some of whom re-sell these at exorbitant prices in an informal market. The purchase value is then factored into the price of imported vehicles.

Pakatan had proposed the auctioning of APs as an interim measure to allay the loss of revenue from removing excise taxes, before abolishing the scheme.