Sri Lanka’s motor car registrations double in Oct ‘14 against Jan ‘14
View(s):Sri Lanka’s motor car registrations almost doubled in October 2014 to 4,039 units from 2,402 in January in the same year. There were steep increases in vehicle registrations in the months of September and October as the people expected another tax hike rom the 2015 budget in which the government has reduced taxes by 25 per cent surprising motor traders and buyers, a senior official of the Motor Traffic Department (MTD) said. 4,893 vehicles were registered in September this year.
According to MTD statistics, 320,276 motor vehicles had been registered during the first 10 months in 2014, with cars imported by using duty free/duty slashed permits, luxury cars, sport utility vehicles and hybrids driving volumes.
In the budget for 2015 the Finance Ministry’s action to bring down taxes by introducing single tax instead of five different taxes including VAT, PAL NBT and excise duty, will bring new momentum in motor vehicle sales, says motor traders.
Motor cycle sales were also up from 16,669 in January to 35,614 in October 2014, lorries from 312 to 371 and single cabs from 1,499 to 1,682.
Two wheel manufacturer were optimistic and upbeat on the potential of the Sri Lanka motor cycle market with the government’s initiative to provide motorcycles for public sector employees on concessionary basis and are expected to introduce the latest motor bikes to the local market soon.
