Vehicle Import Restrictions to be Lifted!

[kush]

There are few interesting 1.5 L PHVs from Hyundai, Kia, Range Rover. Otherwise EV seems to be the other option considering the luxury tax threshold is now at Rs. 12 Mn.

I was going through JDM offerings there is absolutely nothing that you could get down on a decent budget.

No wonder the importers are lobbing to increase the age of the vehicles to 7 years so that they could get down the Allions/ Premios and Axios. 

I have seen few Corolla Sports 1.2L registered in June 2022 that may be a good option. But would still cost Rs. 15-17 Mn. Cost of importing a similar car in 2019 was Rs. 7.5 Mn. (all duty paid, for the permit around Rs. 4.2 Mn.)

[amsandun]

On 12/26/2024 at 12:08 AM, iRage said:

It was brought in under an expat's duty-free entitlement

Something like Carnet I guess. So hope you didn't have to pay all those indicated tax components then 🙂

On 12/26/2024 at 12:08 AM, iRage said:

From the consumer's point of view, it could minimize the snowballing of the VAT component (getting added on at each buying-selling cycle)

Yeah if VAT will become payable in future at the time of importation, then this would stop and will be a good relief on public. If you can prove that VAT has already been paid, nobody should be able to add VAT again in a future transaction for the same item.

[iRage]

15 hours ago, sathyajithj99 said:

vehicle imports there will be an influx of 1L hatchbacks like Yaris

Yes...which is why I said I feel like the biggest used car price change in the local market would be for the small vehicles. As the vehicle gets larger the options are quite small. Even the Yaris Cross and X-Trail or Kicks with the smaller engine, the vehicle price itself is quite high (we are looking at about 2mil yen ish for YCs and Kicks and XTrails well over 3mil). Those prices the car sales advertise are prices bottom of the barrel.
 

2 hours ago, Gummybr said:

Luxury tax calculation is wrong. For petrol anything above 4 mil is calculated at 100% for hybrid anything above 3.5m calculated at 90%.

Electric anything above 6m is calculated at 60%.

Exactly...and this is what worries me. The only way you get a Corolla without luxury tax is to get the bottom of the barrel cars at auction. So the risk of our guys buying the 1mil yen crashed up, gone to the moon and back three times over, stone's throw away from being a parts car and importing those are extremely high.

1 hour ago, kush said:

I have seen few Corolla Sports 1.2L registered in June 2022 that may be a good option.

Very very few....you are literally looking at cars that are registered between February 2022 to October 2022. Right now  the number of Sports, Sedan and Touring with 1.2L engines within 2022-2023 is like 19. So the longer it takes for the imports to start the lesser the number is going to become. 

1 hour ago, kush said:

No wonder the importers are lobbing to increase the age of the vehicles to 7 years so that they could get down the Allions/ Premios and Axios. 

Axios are still manufactured. Albeit only as a business model. But I am sure our guys will know how to turn these in to WxBs. Yes...this explains why they are lobbying for increasing the age limit. Sadly, this just puts the consumer at greater risk (to purchasing dressed up junk cars).

Now there is another issue here. Right now, Hyundai's local assembly seems to be going okay, and the cars seem to be quite decent as well (well...quite a departure in the right direction compared to the likes of the Pandas and other cars we made). Then they are supposedly planning on assembling the Santa Fe as well locally. Now...I don't get the obsession with trying to build our own cars, but this is an avenue to develop the local industry not specifically in vehicle assembly and manufacture but at least component development. What is going to happen to these investments once the flood gates are opened ?

[amsandun]

15 hours ago, sathyajithj99 said:

If the current tax system is going to be implemented for vehicle imports there will be an influx of 1L hatchbacks like Yaris,  subcompact crossovers like Yaris Cross, Raize and 1.5L hybrid compact crossovers like Vezel, Yaris Cross hybrid(sub compact). Also 1.5L hybrid mid size crossovers like Nissan Xtrail has a chance to reach the sores compared to gasoline 1.5L ones like Honda CRV, ZRV or Toyota Harrier which is 2L due to taxation based on cc value

For <1000cc, Hybrid Part is correct but for Petrol cars Excise Tax is Rs. 1,881,000/- per unit or Rs. 2,300/- per cmᶾ, whichever is higher according to current published tariff in Customs Website.

[sathyajithj99]

1 hour ago, iRage said:

17 hours ago, sathyajithj99 said:

 

Yes...which is why I said I feel like the biggest used car price change in the local market would be for the small vehicles. As the vehicle gets larger the options are quite small. Even the Yaris Cross and X-Trail or Kicks with the smaller engine, the vehicle price itself is quite high (we are looking at about 2mil yen ish for YCs and Kicks and XTrails well over 3mil). Those prices the car sales advertise are prices bottom of the barrel

The agent quotes 28 million for the brand new Xtrail Epower. I'm pretty sure a used one could be brought down just under 20 million even with luxury tax

Edited yesterday at 10:30 AM by sathyajithj99

[iRage]

1 hour ago, amsandun said:

Something like Carnet I guess. So hope you didn't have to pay all those indicated tax components then 🙂

Yeah if VAT will become payable in future at the time of importation, then this would stop and will be a good relief on public. If you can prove that VAT has already been paid, nobody should be able to add VAT again in a future transaction for the same item.

No. Nothing like carnet. For carnet the car needs to be registered under the foreign resident's name and the car can be in Sri Lanka only for a specific period of time (3 months right now). Expats working for international organizations like the UN, USAId, etc...get to have a duty free car for personal use during their mission. this is applicable to wherever we go to work at. No restrictions on what can be imported. Only think is it would be easy if whatever you are importing is within the prevailing requirements of the country (if it is not you just have to request permission). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pretty much issues a letter certifying the expat's work in the country and makes a request to the Customs department to allow the importation of a car for the exapt. The custom's department in turn reviews the vehicle that is being brought in and issues a letter approving the importation. That is it. No we did not have to pay any of the taxes in the cusdec. If we choose to sell the car then if a local buys it he/she will have to pay the indicated duty (or prevailing one). If it is another expat with duty free privileges then they just pay us for the car and transfer the registration. 

20 minutes ago, sathyajithj99 said:

The agent quotes 28 million for the brand new Xtrail Epower. I'm pretty sure a used one could be brought down just under 20 million even with luxury tax

 

Just under 20mil. Yes. But those prices like 9.9million for a Vezel, 9.2. mil for a Corolla. Not going to happen unless it is bottom of the barrel.

But here is the thing. That 1.5L XTrail...sort of sucks. If you tell me you are going to buy one, I will make it my mission to talk you out of it. The EV motor pushes out about 200hp and about 300Nm of torque. Quite nice to get off the mark. But then the battery dies out and the engine kicks in. The 140HP ish motor makes a horrendous noise trying to keep the motor alive. So now although you have a motor that technically pushes out the equivalent of 200Hp...you are no where near that. To add to that, many owners in Japan are complaining that it is not as fuel efficient as the Serena. The Vezel with the eHEV Hybrid system is much better. Albeit it is smaller. So again...I feel the XTrail is going to get a bad rep in SL after a flood of imports (kind of like the previous model). Even the Serena ePower is the same. The only decent ePowers I have driven is the Note and the Kicks. THe lighter body makes a HUGE difference on the strain of the motor and engine.

So the Premio/Allion crowd are going to hate these new cars...including the Corolla.

[iRage]

44 minutes ago, sathyajithj99 said:

The agent quotes 28 million for the brand new Xtrail Epower.

Bl**dy h*** ! DON"T ! Get it off your mind ! Just don't !!

[sathyajithj99]

24 minutes ago, iRage said:

Bl**dy h*** ! DON"T ! Get it off your mind ! Just don't !!

I take your advise. But there are very few options for someone who needs an upgrade from a compact crossover to a mid sized one. With current tax system all Toyotas are out of the picture. Harrier having a 2L engine and RAV4 even bigger.

CRV(gasoline) still has 1.5L engine and cannot find any RHD ones in Japanese auctions. I hardly think we can get down from Aussie this time with what happened in 2018. The agent will quote around 25 million for brand new ones for sure.

Tuscon and Sportage were advertised with competitive price tags. Should look into them as well.

Those are the only reliable ones come to mind with 1.5L engines.

 

[amsandun]

45 minutes ago, iRage said:

Bl**dy h*** ! DON"T ! Get it off your mind ! Just don't !!

I don't know the details or specs much but the look of the Terra got my attention 😛just as I like the Fortuner, though I'm not able to buy either at this time in my life (or not in Sri Lanka)

Edited yesterday at 11:58 AM by amsandun

[iRage]

16 hours ago, sathyajithj99 said:

CRV(gasoline) still has 1.5L engine and cannot find any RHD ones in Japanese auctions.

They stopped selling the CRV in Japan around 2021-2022. Even then it was the 2L variant. The next gen is supposed to make a come back.

16 hours ago, sathyajithj99 said:

But there are very few options for someone who needs an upgrade from a compact crossover to a mid sized one. With current tax system all Toyotas are out of the picture. Harrier having a 2L engine and RAV4 even bigger.

Yes...but not the XTrail. Well..lets say it should be your very last resort. Probably the lowest performer in its category. Sad too. Everything else in the car is a decent improvement and had a lot of promise. As for Toyota...yes....mid sizes are going to be more than 2000cc for now. Next gen has the potential to carry the new low capacity high out put engines. So your alternatives would be from Toyota  the Corolla Cross, from Honda the Vezel or the ZRV. Which physically is more or less the size of the CHR but due to the design feels more roomier (although the Corolla Cross doesn't have much more usable space than the touring yet costs nearly 1mil yen more). Then you have the Forester or XV (1.6 in particular) from Subaru or the CX-5 from Mazda (which actually feels much more expensive than it actually is and drives quite well) with the 2L gasoline engine or the CX-3/30 which is considerably smaller.

[iRage]

16 hours ago, amsandun said:

I don't know the details or specs much but the look of the Terra got my attention 😛just as I like the Fortuner, though I'm not able to buy either at this time in my life (or not in Sri Lanka)

Well the Terra has conventional engines (so far) and is quite different from the XTrail. It is still a proper offroader like the Fortuner and Pajero Sport. 

[sathyajithj99]

50 minutes ago, iRage said:

They stopped selling the CRV in Japan around 2021-2022. Even then it was the 2L variant. The next gen is supposed to make a come back.

Yes...but not the XTrail. Well..lets say it should be your very last resort. Probably the lowest performer in its category. Sad too. Everything else in the car is a decent improvement and had a lot of promise. As for Toyota...yes....mid sizes are going to be more than 2000cc for now. Next gen has the potential to carry the new low capacity high out put engines. So your alternatives would be from Toyota  the Corolla Cross, from Honda the Vezel or the ZRV. Which physically is more or less the size of the CHR but due to the design feels more roomier (although the Corolla Cross doesn't have much more usable space than the touring yet costs nearly 1mil yen more). Then you have the Forester or XV (1.6 in particular) from Subaru or the CX-5 from Mazda (which actually feels much more expensive than it actually is and drives quite well) with the 2L gasoline engine or the CX-3/30 which is considerably smaller.

Vezel and Corolla Cross don't feel like an upgrade for me. ZRV maybe a better choice. Or else as you said, should wait for Toyota's new mid sized next gen with smaller engines.

As the last resort may have to settle down with a second hand CRV or a Harrier as prices would go down a little bit with the start of imports.

Edited 12 hours ago by sathyajithj99

[iRage]

3 hours ago, sathyajithj99 said:

Vezel and Corolla Cross don't feel like an upgrade for me. ZRV maybe a better choice. Or else as you said, should wait for Toyota's new mid sized next gen with smaller engines.

As the last resort may have to settle down with a second hand CRV or a Harrier as prices would go down a little bit with the start of imports.

THe Corolla Cross actually feels a lot nicer than the CH-R in the highest trim level. But of the three the ZR-V would be the most refined looking.

[Izza]

On 12/23/2024 at 4:55 PM, iRage said:

Aha, I guess this *could* be the way which the final tax will be calculated? the base excise tax w.r.t. the engine capacity (XID), and the VAT imposed upon XID + the valuation (~5.4mil in this case), then of course the LT etc.

Charging VAT at the customs is the best way, in my pov too.

So we are effectively a month away from almost a life event for a car lover in SL.. 😄  but still do not know the concrete details how it would work - who will be allowed to import, whether there is going to be a restriction upon the amount of vehicles imported (which I hope there will be), whether older cars will be allowed to be brought down and the exact prices.. typical SL way 😅 

Also I assume the 2nd hand market is at a standstill, at least for some price brackets.

[sathyajithj99]

7 hours ago, iRage said:

THe Corolla Cross actually feels a lot nicer than the CH-R in the highest trim level. But of the three the ZR-V would be the most refined looking.

Yeah, I have considered Corolla Cross as well.  It stands between CHR and RAV4 in Toyota Crossovers segment. The highest trim levl seems nice with Moon roof, digital display, full leather interior and all. But other trim levels don't offer much compared to even CH-R.

And not ready to settle down for anything less than a mid sized crossover this time.🤪

Edited 1 hour ago by sathyajithj99