Micro Cars improves after sales service
View(s):Micro Cars Ltd continues its vehicle assembly process further diversifying its functions towards after sales services and a rent a car facility amidst challenges arising out of an inconsistence tax policy during the past few years, officials of the company said.Today Micro Cars remains the only national car manufacturer assembling a full range of vehicles, from compact cars, vans to luxury SUV’s, and buses.Around 48,000 Micro vehicles were sold last year and it was significant growth amidst state interventions including low interest rates and tax cuts imposed by the new government, they added.
Micro has further diversified into a group of companies with its subsidiaries Transmec Engineering (Sri Lanka’s biggest automobile after sales workshop), Transmec International (Low floor buses, Prime Movers, Rent a Car Service, etc), Micro Construction (the construction arm) and Euro Sports Auto Lanka (franchisee of Lamborghini and many other luxury automobile brands).Micro has stepped into overseas markets by exporting vehicles to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
The company has eight showrooms and 30 after sales service centres islandwide. The Micro Group now employs more than 1,000 workers.
A senior official of the company told the Business Times that the technology or skills are not the major barriers for the progress of the automobile industry in Sri Lanka, but the inconsistency of state policies.Especially tax related policy’s sudden changes affected badly the investment in their company and they are running this Rs. 2.5 billion investment with so many challenges and at a risk.
Micro Cars is importing body shells and engine parts from countries such as China and Korea, he said. The factory has a capacity for producing 500 cars and there are four assembly lines for the factory and one is a fully automated line. Apart from assembly lines there are few other sections to manufacture cushion seats, fibre glass buffers and silencers. Cottage industries are being developed in surrounding areas to turn out value added components to cater to the logistics and manufacturing needs of the company.Rubber hoses and various cables used as part of the vehicle, are not imported but those parts are sourced locally from small industries around the factory, he disclosed.