Following the announcement of the second Movement Control Order (MCO) by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) today released an updated version of the list of sectors and companies allowed to operate during the MCO period.
The five broad sectors allowed to operate during the MCO period are factories and manufacturing, construction, services, distribution businesses, as well as plantations and commodities.
On the automotive side of things, manufacturing and assembly plants will be allowed to operate as usual during the 14-day movement restriction period, as is aftersales services, which is curiously listed under the factories and manufacturing sector according to the updated list. This is in stark contrast to the first MCO period, where all automotive-related businesses were ordered to shut their doors.
A quick check with several car brands in Malaysia has confirmed that their respective service centres located within the MCO zones will still operate as usual with strict standard operating procedure (SOP) in place.
As for third-party automotive workshops, Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii), an agency under MITI, confirmed to AutoBuzz.my that they will be allowed to operate, provided that the workshop has registered with MITI’s Covid-19 Intelligent Management System (CIMS).
All companies listed in the list of essential services will still have to comply with various restrictions as stated in the announcement yesterday, including a 30% limit on management-level workforce.
Stay tuned for more updates as we seek for more comments from automotive brands.
OPERATIONAL STATUS ACCORDING TO BRANDS:
- Toyota: All outlets nationwide (including sales, service, body & paint) operating as usual.
