Vehicle Import Restrictions to be Lifted!

RWD · February 3

II'm seeing the 1.0 unregistered Raizes advertised for around 10-11 mil. This will make the registered market for those vehicles drop significantly if they can deliver at that price, along with other registered vehicles that are going at that price.

iRage · February 3

On 2/3/2025 at 6:47 AM, RWD said:

II'm seeing the 1.0 unregistered Raizes advertised for around 10-11 mil. This will make the registered market for those vehicles drop significantly if they can deliver at that price, along with other registered vehicles that are going at that price.

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But what is their profit margin (or commission)? Working backwards from the stated price, the car price ends up being the average auction price + plus miscellaneous other charges. Now for someone based in Japan you will make a bit out from these miscellaneous charges but definitely not enough for both the Japan based exporter and local importer. Why will I not be surprised if these guys after some time would say they need to raise the prices because of high operational costs in SL? Also I have seen some posts from these guys showing what the increased price from the previous ones could be due to the "taxes" and "restrictions". At the day I don't think anyone can say what the prices are until the first batch of cars come along followed on by the first few direct imports. The agents should seriously consider getting down certified used cars from their Japanese/Thai counter-parts (FYI...sometimes the cheapest cars are newly traded-in cars that you find at dealers which either will go to the used car section or get sent out to auction).

Seriously...when it comes to cars our masses either become stupid or become the most devious and vile humans on the planet.

amsandun · February 3

On 2/3/2025 at 7:12 AM, iRage said:

sometimes the cheapest cars are newly traded-in cars that you find at dealers which either will go to the used car section or get sent out to auction

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traded-in means people exchange their used previous model of a vehicle with a newly launched one right? In that case, getting them down could actually be worth given agents give a reasonable warranty. If the agents does this, prices of other importers could be somewhat controlled I think.

Actually these kind of initiatives are required for a country like ours.

iRage · February 3

On 2/3/2025 at 7:38 AM, amsandun said:

traded-in means people exchange their used previous model of a vehicle with a newly launched one right?

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Yes....for our 2022/2023 January Corolla wagon my dealer offered us 1.9mil yen in January 2024 Market price of the car was 2.5mil yen You wouldn't have gotten the car at 1.9mil yen...there would have been some charges, etc...but even then it would have been cheaper than the market price. Quite hard to get these because they get swiped up by other car dealers to be sold within the country (including their very own used car lot).

amsandun · February 3

On 2/3/2025 at 7:54 AM, iRage said:

Yes....for our 2022/2023 January Corolla wagon my dealer offered us 1.9mil yen in January 2024 Market price of the car was 2.5mil yen You wouldn't have gotten the car at 1.9mil yen...there would have been some charges, etc...but even then it would have been cheaper than the market price. Quite hard to get these because they get swiped up by other car dealers to be sold within the country (including their very own used car lot).

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We could have had similar options if only there were decent cars to trade in, and still our guys would tamper the mileage in hope for a better trade in price 😁

kush · February 4

Sub 1.0 L cars can be brought in at less than Rs. 10 Mn. Already Perodua is offed around Rs. 8.0 Mn. Toy#ta L#nka also will bring down their range including the Yaris which is a global vehicle. I was offered a Yaris @ Rs. 9.5 (2004) by a leading importer.

There is Honda City, Yaris Active, Suzukis that can be brought down by the agent. If agents come in to the party soon the prices will stabilize as demand could shift from Used to New.

So technically Vitz, Raize, Wagon R used prices should come down by at least 30-40%

Anything above 1.0L and over Rs. 5.0 Mn. CIF will hold their value unless the owners shift to smaller cars.

iRage · February 4

On 2/4/2025 at 3:20 AM, kush said:

should come down by at least 30-40%

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I feel sorry for those who bought these cars at the hyper-artificiallly inflated price. Considering the class of car and the people who buy them...I don't think they can afford to lose that much on that type of car.

kush · February 4

On 2/4/2025 at 7:26 AM, iRage said:

I feel sorry for those who bought these cars at the hyper-artificiallly inflated price. Considering the class of car and the people who buy them...I don't think they can afford to lose that much on that type of car.

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Well the loss will be if you sell the vehicle. Anyone who brought the vehicle to keep it for few years will at least have the use of the vehicle and who knows in SL prices could adjust further due to currency depreciation or taxation changes.

iRage · February 4

On 2/4/2025 at 2:12 PM, kush said:

Well the loss will be if you sell the vehicle. Anyone who brought the vehicle to keep it for few years will at least have the use of the vehicle and who knows in SL prices could adjust further due to currency depreciation or taxation changes.

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True...my guess is they will have to keep it, but knowing our people they simply don't think logically when it comes to cars. They will not realize they cannot afford to sell the old car at a loss and buy a new one until the bills pile up.

Either way....after all the hoopla over the last month or so, it seems like the prices of new cars are not as "low" as people started to believe (or were made to believe by the usual culprits).

Noobdriver · February 5

On 2/2/2025 at 1:12 PM, iRage said:

Sadly yes Which would be okay if you actually make or has the potential to make a good income. Sadly, 99.9% of the time I don't see that happening no matter how talented they are or how hard they work.

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Oh, I wish I could shell out that much. I might just bet on a 2017 Swift tanking a little and see if that would work out. If not, I'll probably keep my current car. I'm just a 24 year old who got lucky to be able to afford his first car at 23.

Noobdriver · February 5

On 2/4/2025 at 3:20 AM, kush said:

Sub 1.0 L cars can be brought in at less than Rs. 10 Mn. Already Perodua is offed around Rs. 8.0 Mn. Toy#ta L#nka also will bring down their range including the Yaris which is a global vehicle. I was offered a Yaris @ Rs. 9.5 (2004) by a leading importer.

There is Honda City, Yaris Active, Suzukis that can be brought down by the agent. If agents come in to the party soon the prices will stabilize as demand could shift from Used to New.

So technically Vitz, Raize, Wagon R used prices should come down by at least 30-40%

Anything above 1.0L and over Rs. 5.0 Mn. CIF will hold their value unless the owners shift to smaller cars.

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Yeah, man, it is always the budget buyers who get screwed. I paid 5.4 Mn in 2023 for my 2011 KSP130 Vitz (1L). I only bought it out of sheer desperation. I cannot do motorcycles, and Ubers are extremely hard to find here. I just wanted a reliable car to take me from home-work-home and a few road-trips and so on.

MUHAMMADLM · February 6

What is the procedure to import vehicles for business purposes? Does DMT provide dealer license now? and is there any other regulations for startup importers?

iRage · February 6

On 2/6/2025 at 8:36 AM, MUHAMMADLM said:

What is the procedure to import vehicles for business purposes? Does DMT provide dealer license now? and is there any other regulations for startup importers?

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Your best way forward would be to call the import control/customs department and get information directly from them. Despite everything they are actually quite good at providing info.

Things are so fluid right now no one other than the source themselves will be able to give you any reliable information.

john cooper · February 6

Not sure if this is the correct page to post but I think there are some ripple effects in the community after hearing the different vehicle prices with import lift.

I received a phone call in the middle of the night from my Dad. He usually calls me in the middle of the night for emergencies only.
I was shocked to hear that he ended up selling his 26 year old Diesel Prado for 500,000 LKR over the asking price. 😂
So I jumped out of the bed to listen to the story.

Dad had no intention of selling the Prado, so I remember he was telling some dude some silly price when they refused to take the word "No not for sale"

He is been chased by a group of guys who are on their way for another Prado and spot Dad is driving his, so he stops the Truck by the road and gives them the same answer, which they refuse to take, so Dad has gone with his same tactic of Silly offer and then the potential buyer made a counter offer with extra 500k on top of the silly offer. 🤣
The next minute the deal was done at the Bank, along with the paperwork and the car was gone.
Dad was in shock when he called me, how fast everything had happened with the car deal.

He was like, What's happening in the Sri Lanka car market/ what is going to happen with imports? So I referred him to the AL forum 🤭

In the future, I might open a new thread to seek help for Dad's new ride.

Regards,

JC

Noobdriver · February 6

On 2/6/2025 at 9:48 PM, john cooper said:

Not sure if this is the correct page to post but I think there are some ripple effects in the community after hearing the different vehicle prices with import lift.

I received a phone call in the middle of the night from my Dad. He usually calls me in the middle of the night for emergencies only.
I was shocked to hear that he ended up selling his 26 year old Diesel Prado for 500,000 LKR over the asking price. 😂
So I jumped out of the bed to listen to the story.

Dad had no intention of selling the Prado, so I remember he was telling some dude some silly price when they refused to take the word "No not for sale"

He is been chased by a group of guys who are on their way for another Prado and spot Dad is driving his, so he stops the Truck by the road and gives them the same answer, which they refuse to take, so Dad has gone with his same tactic of Silly offer and then the potential buyer made a counter offer with extra 500k on top of the silly offer. 🤣
The next minute the deal was done at the Bank, along with the paperwork and the car was gone.
Dad was in shock when he called me, how fast everything had happened with the car deal.

He was like, What's happening in the Sri Lanka car market/ what is going to happen with imports? So I referred him to the AL forum 🤭

In the future, I might open a new thread to seek help for Dad's new ride.

Regards,

JC

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Yo, that's interesting, but at the same time, not very surprising. That's a very classy-looking car, newer cars look like crap.

john cooper · February 7

On 2/6/2025 at 10:16 PM, Noobdriver said:

Yo, that's interesting, but at the same time, not very surprising. That's a very classy-looking car, newer cars look like crap.

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The surprise is my father was asking an insane price so no one going to commit to buying, and the guys even counter offered 500k more on top of his insane price so he couldn't change his work.
This is the 1st time this has happened to us and we have never heard it before.

So there could only be a few reasons,

- Our LC Prado should be the best of the best - No way, it was 26 year old girl but in very decent condition.

- The price hike going to be so bad, and the used car market going to be upside down - It sounds like that's not the case.

- The wife going to divorce if the guy does not come home with a Prado, so the guy was so desperate to buy a one 🤣 - Possible.

Edited February 7 by john cooper

iRage · February 7

On 2/6/2025 at 9:48 PM, john cooper said:

Not sure if this is the correct page to post but I think there are some ripple effects in the community after hearing the different vehicle prices with import lift.

I received a phone call in the middle of the night from my Dad. He usually calls me in the middle of the night for emergencies only.
I was shocked to hear that he ended up selling his 26 year old Diesel Prado for 500,000 LKR over the asking price. 😂
So I jumped out of the bed to listen to the story.

Dad had no intention of selling the Prado, so I remember he was telling some dude some silly price when they refused to take the word "No not for sale"

He is been chased by a group of guys who are on their way for another Prado and spot Dad is driving his, so he stops the Truck by the road and gives them the same answer, which they refuse to take, so Dad has gone with his same tactic of Silly offer and then the potential buyer made a counter offer with extra 500k on top of the silly offer. 🤣
The next minute the deal was done at the Bank, along with the paperwork and the car was gone.
Dad was in shock when he called me, how fast everything had happened with the car deal.

He was like, What's happening in the Sri Lanka car market/ what is going to happen with imports? So I referred him to the AL forum 🤭

In the future, I might open a new thread to seek help for Dad's new ride.

Regards,

JC

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Dude ! Oh dear....DUDE ! Why ?
That Prado was the last proper Prado that had a balance of the 70 series ruggedness and 100 series comfort...a nice balance between analog and digital. The 120 was too wagonish and soft. The 150 carried the wagon-ness but towards the end went a bit back to its roots with gruntier engien choices but still was too digital. The new one is a big fat pig. So..yeah..sad to see her go.

On 2/7/2025 at 12:07 AM, john cooper said:

- The price hike going to be so bad, and the used car market going to be upside down - It sounds like that's not the case.

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I don't necessarily think the used car prices are going to tank that much...especially for the larger vehicles. There are people quoting 77 (petrol...stay away) to 88 (diesel...manageable but a bit gutless on the top end) mil for a new Prado 250 (and again this is supposed to be the landed cost of the car...,nothing about the importers' margins). Compared to that, even a 10-year-old Prado for around 60% - 70% of that price seems reasonable and more affordable. Those who claimed a new Alto would be around 4 to 5 mil are now quoting 5 to 6 mil. So...I suppose flaring up season has ended and now its the actual roasting period. Despite the hoopla I don't think people will be able to afford bringing down as many cars as our people believe. But then our people are known to make really poor financial decisions.

On 2/7/2025 at 12:07 AM, john cooper said:

- The wife going to divorce if the guy does not come home with a Prado, so the guy was so desperate to buy a one 🤣 - Possible.

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I think this is the ONLY good reasoning. ALL other reasons spell nothing but doom to the automotive landscape of SL. So let's pray that this guy had a very determined LC loving wife.

john cooper · February 7

On 2/7/2025 at 2:34 AM, iRage said:

Dude ! Oh dear....DUDE ! Why ?
That Prado was the last proper Prado that had a balance of the 70 series ruggedness and 100 series comfort...a nice balance between analog and digital. The 120 was too wagonish and soft. The 150 carried the wagon-ness but towards the end went a bit back to its roots with gruntier engien choices but still was too digital. The new one is a big fat pig. So..yeah..sad to see her go.

I don't necessarily think the used car prices are going to tank that much...especially for the larger vehicles. There are people quoting 77 (petrol...stay away) to 88 (diesel...manageable but a bit gutless on the top end) mil for a new Prado 250 (and again this is supposed to be the landed cost of the car...,nothing about the importers' margins). Compared to that, even a 10-year-old Prado for around 60% - 70% of that price seems reasonable and more affordable. Those who claimed a new Alto would be around 4 to 5 mil are now quoting 5 to 6 mil. So...I suppose flaring up season has ended and now its the actual roasting period. Despite the hoopla I don't think people will be able to afford bringing down as many cars as our people believe. But then our people are known to make really poor financial decisions.

I think this is the ONLY good reasoning. ALL other reasons spell nothing but doom to the automotive landscape of SL. So let's pray that this guy had a very determined LC loving wife.

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I know mate, once you say a work you can't take it back/ change.

95 series is one of the best in both worlds with minimum electronics (Dad hates too many sensors anyway)
So he wasn't sure what to buy now, need to talk to him this avro to see where he sits with.

I have rung a couple of my mates who deal with used cars in SL and they both have mentioned it is a slow market and it is a bit hard to sell vehicles and they have mentioned there is no issue with supply.
Also mentioned lots of dreamers, joy riders 😂

So it sounds like a buyer market, not the sellers

iRage · February 7

On 2/7/2025 at 3:54 AM, john cooper said:

So it sounds like a buyer market, not the sellers

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I think it is because of the uncertainty. No one knows what is actually happening with car imports and after car imports. A group of people are worried that prices will tumble and are trying to sell them off. Complementing then you have the potential buyers who are waiting for imports to resume or demanding their prices.

But seriously though....there really isn't much choice of what to replace it with is there ?

john cooper · February 10

On 2/7/2025 at 11:22 AM, iRage said:

I think it is because of the uncertainty. No one knows what is actually happening with car imports and after car imports. A group of people are worried that prices will tumble and are trying to sell them off. Complementing then you have the potential buyers who are waiting for imports to resume or demanding their prices.

But seriously though....there really isn't much choice of what to replace it with is there ?

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100% we are still thinking the replacement as we have a requirement for a 4WD vehicle

fiat fan · February 11

So @AVANTE shared this with me. It got me thinking… Hmm wasnt the “new” jimny around 4ish mil around. If they can really get it down for around 8 mil, thats not bad considering everything going on. A used and abused wagonR is also around 7 mil.

whats the expert opinion?

Edited February 11 by fiat fan
Deleted the name and #number of the advert

iRage · February 13

On 2/11/2025 at 10:35 PM, fiat fan said:

So @AVANTE shared this with me. It got me thinking… Hmm wasnt the “new” jimny around 4ish mil around. If they can really get it down for around 8 mil, thats not bad considering everything going on. A used and abused wagonR is also around 7 mil.

whats the expert opinion?

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Jimny is a wonderful litte car. However, on long distances you do feel the road fatigue. It gets loud and jittery and you feel it. That way a normal kei car (modern ones) are more comfortable.

8mil should be possible for a car that is around the 2-3 year mark since it is a kei car. Needless to say the Jimny Sierra will be significantly more expensive as the engine is a 1.5L. Fun fact...the Jimny Nomad (i.e. 5 door Jimny) was launched in Japan on the 31st of January. Went to look at the thing on the 1st of February. Not a bad car. I was told the order books were closed because there had been 50,000+ orders and delivery time is nearly 2 years.

As for the prices in general...they all say X upwards, so the price quoted would be the lowest spec'd price, and for some of them, you really don't want the lowest spec.

For 58mil you are probably looking at the 2.7L petrol LC250. That thing is horrendous. Do not buy it. The car is too heavy for the 2.7L petrol engine. The 2.8L diesel is barely sufficient but it is out of breath doing a 110 on the highway.

Corolla for 14.5mil you are looking at a gasoline variant, probably a WxB closer to the 2-3 year mark, in which case you want the 3 year old car instead of the 2 year old car (Toyota sales people themselves say that the petrol Corolla was made to be cheaper to attract business clients as part of th eplan to phase out the Axio). Then, on the other hand, the Axio is probably newer than the quoted Corolla, but what sucks is you only get a business model, so it is very spartan.

The new Swift...it is a nice car to drive but there have been engine reliability concerns. Mainly to do with the configuration rather than the engine itself.

For a same amount of money I would buy the Vezel over the Corolla (especially if the latter is a petrol). Vezel is more refined, feels more roomy and more practical.

Not much change in the Raize than what Lankans are used to. Same with the kei cars over there. Same old song, different melody. There really isn't much improvement in terms of ride and handling from the previous models.

Yaris...the 1L still sucks. Hybrid or the 1.5L petrols are the decent ones. Much better ride than the Vitz. Interior still feels cheap and lacking in most grades. If you are going for the Hybrid or Petrol you might as well go for the Yaris Cross. Slightly rolly polly ride compared to the hatch but quite nimble. Not much different in terms of practicality over the hatchback but at least you get the added clearence (and hopefully AWD) but mostly the interior feels a bit more refined.

If going for a Hybrid Yaris might as well go for an Aqua. Same platform, same power and drive train but a bit more refined packaging (that is how they market it here as well..Yaris for the youthful, Aqua for the more mature).

Hilux...what you really want is the 2.8L diesel (same engine as the 150 and 250 Prados). This is not sold in Japan (except for a few grey imports) so it will have to be sourced from Thailand. The 2.8 is much more potent than the 2.4 which also is not too bad. The GR Sport of the JDM Hilux is mostly a dress-up kit. The export (Thai) GR Sport actually has more power, more torque and better suspension tuning (so again...export model is better than the JDM).

amsandun · February 14

On 2/13/2025 at 2:21 AM, iRage said:

As for the prices in general...they all say X upwards, so the price quoted would be the lowest spec'd price, and for some of them, you really don't want the lowest spec.

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Sadly what could happen at the end is most buyers ( most middle-class or above average buyers with a loan/finance who are desperate for a new car) ends up with the said lowest priced and lowest spec'd cars. Still, Basic Yaris for 8 Mil upwards and other low power kei cars around the same price are not worth the money right? Then they'd do all those cosmetic modifications to make up for missing specifications or add cheap after market gadgets.

People who can afford will go for cars in the next level which would mostly be 10-12 mil plus. With the new condition of registration should be done within 3 months, I guess these highly priced Corollas, Vezel etc.. will be brought down only for confirmed pre-orders?

Anyway, SL car market (New/Used) would never be the same for a considerable period of time.

iRage · February 15

On 2/14/2025 at 3:57 PM, amsandun said:

Still, Basic Yaris for 8 Mil upwards and other low power kei cars around the same price are not worth the money right?

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Yeah....for 8 mil you are going to be stuck with a basic Yaris or for the same price a well spec'd kei car. I would rather live with the high spec kei car. Talking one of my Lankan friends in to getting a NOne RS (manual) for a little less than the price of a Yaris (apparently).

On 2/14/2025 at 3:57 PM, amsandun said:

With the new condition of registration should be done within 3 months, I guess these highly priced Corollas, Vezel etc..

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Probably....quite a few adverts for the Vezels, Yaris Cross and larger cars are now starting to state "On LC opening basis <+ something about the buyer being responsible for it>". I suppose that means they will not do anything with sourcing a car unless the buyer opens the LC and the purchase is guaranteed?

This is why I feel cars like Premios/Allions (even high trimmed Axios ?) will not drop down as much as people believe it will (or like it to). On one hand there really isn't a replacement for these models and one actually needs to have a lot of disposable funds saved up (for most, including myself) 7 to 8 mil just lying around to drop as just 25% downpayment on a car is a no go (at least if one is to be sensible about things).

On 2/14/2025 at 3:57 PM, amsandun said:

Anyway, SL car market (New/Used) would never be the same for a considerable period of time.

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True...the existing cars just need to be kept and let to depreciate over a lot of time (let people who paid hyper-inflated prices get some utility out of it and let subsequent buyers of these cars finance them under reasonable valuations). I believe the CB's intent is sensible. Those who should be importing cars are the ones who really really need to and have no locally source-able options.

amsandun · February 21

Seeing funny things on social media.

Someone posts as Anonymous to sell a KSP90 Vitz and put the price at 42.75. And usual guys comment 27 ok blah blah. pathetic efforts to bring down the market artificially. Advertisers and commenters all in the same gang I suppose. 😄