20 September 2020 06:38 pm
Resulting in the Government's decision to ban the import of motor vehicles and luxury goods from March 19, the local vehicle market has become unstable, the Vehicle Importers Association of Sri Lanka (VIASL) President Indika Sampath Merinchige said.
He told Daily Mirror that vehicle prices in the local market had been increased.
Accordingly, the prices of the second-hand vehicle market had been increased at a price range between Rs. 200,000 to 500,000 the VIASL President said.
“Having this kind of market in vehicle sales is not good for its future. 40 per cent of the vehicle sales centres had to be closed due to the lack of brand-new vehicles for sale. Most of them had taken the land for rent or lease. Even though the vehicle sale is zero the lease or the rent has to be paid,” he said.
However, there are about 1,000 brand-new vehicles available in the market which is not sufficient for the demand, Mr Merinchige said.
Therefore, he requested the Government to take decisions to bring this unusual situation under control while implementing solutions such as permitting the import of Japanese vehicles which are at least within seven years from the vehicle manufacture date or request large scale vehicle assembling companies to promote their products in our country or to encourage local vehicle importers to import electric cars to support the economy, Merinchige added.(Chaturanga Samarawickrama)