Vehicle Import Restrictions to be Lifted!

Gummybr · February 22

And now there is talk of reducing the duty. Also talk of underhand illegal things happening at Japanese car inspections etc. Such a shame.

iRage · February 23

On 2/22/2025 at 1:00 PM, Gummybr said:

And now there is talk of reducing the duty. Also talk of underhand illegal things happening at Japanese car inspections etc. Such a shame.

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At the inspections? What I have heard is that it is with the inspection report (nothing new there). What some known people told me (and one of them was a Japanese party...does not sell cars to SL and says he would rather starve on the street). is: The inspection reports (and registration documents) never put the Year of MANUFACTURE. Only the year of FIRST REGISTRATION. Apparently, these guys first requested the date of manufacture which was denied as that can never be ascertained without the manufacturers themselves looking at serial numbers and their records. Apparently, the Lankan policy is such that if the date of manufacture is not known, it is set to be January of the following year. So our guys are supposedly buying "2022" models and then forging the inspection reports with a newer date.

So why the duty reduction ? Not enough imports and estimated tax revenue is not what the government expected? So..in other words we have created a screwed up scenario ? THe question I have is even if they reduce taxes...do people have money to actually buy cars? True people yap this and that but when they see the actual bill do they really have the buying power? The government can't slash the taxes by that much. Even if they slash it at some point they are going to have to raise it again, restrict financing % for cars or increase interest rates to curb imports because every monkey with their uncle's mistress will be importing new cars (let's not forget that interest rate hikes will effect all kinds of borrowing).
I feel those who actually have the money probably can afford to buy a some practical car even at the current rate. The sad reality of Lankans is that the masses just go and buy cars they simply can't afford. All these guys talk about the landed costs but no one seems consider the cost of borrowing the money.

amsandun · February 28

On 2/23/2025 at 2:07 PM, iRage said:

All these guys talk about the landed costs but no one seems consider the cost of borrowing the money.

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True this. All are seems to quote starting price of the base model with no any options like you mentioned in a previous post. A capable buyer would buy a decent new car and settle while the mass seems to doing is artificially dragging used car prices down. When seeing all these FB page posts atc it's just pathetic.

Now that the first vessel arrived, their desperation seems to have doubled. 😃

iRage · March 2

On 2/28/2025 at 5:27 AM, amsandun said:

Now that the first vessel arrived, their desperation seems to have doubled.

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Well...does anyone know what the actual landed prices of these cars are? Heard of the LC300 prices and they are astronomical. Makes me wonder if SL is truly a cash strapped country (that or I should have changed careers ages ago...).

Also, have the used car prices in SL gone down? Seen a bit of a dip but not as much as what these FB goons seem to be pushing (which for the most part is close to pre-pandemic prices).

Noobdriver · March 4

On 3/2/2025 at 5:21 PM, iRage said:

Well...does anyone know what the actual landed prices of these cars are? Heard of the LC300 prices and they are astronomical. Makes me wonder if SL is truly a cash strapped country (that or I should have changed careers ages ago...).

Also, have the used car prices in SL gone down? Seen a bit of a dip but not as much as what these FB goons seem to be pushing (which for the most part is close to pre-pandemic prices).

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I don't think there is a significant change in prices, more so, I think the prices have gone up a little bit in a lot of the lower end cars like GP5, Swift, Vitz. Also, I saw a convoy of GR Hiluxes in Duplication Road with Garage numbers ripping through the streets. It was a sight to be seen!

slingshot · March 19

Have you guys seen the RR Cullinan Black Badge Series 2 - unimaginable amount of hidden money in SL to splash 700-1000mil on a RR.

iRage · March 20

On 3/19/2025 at 1:12 PM, slingshot said:

Have you guys seen the RR Cullinan Black Badge Series 2 - unimaginable amount of hidden money in SL to splash 700-1000mil on a RR.

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Yeah...I am convinced that I am going to be seeing more Prado 250s and LC300s in Sri Lanka than on the streets of Japan
We still can't get either one of those cars through Toyota Japan.

Izza · March 20

Has anyone got first hand experience in buying or selling a car recently? Is there an actual market price reduction at least for Kei cars? 1000cc category seems to have become even more expensive 🤦‍♂️

Gummybr · March 20

On 3/20/2025 at 5:51 AM, iRage said:

Yeah...I am convinced that I am going to be seeing more Prado 250s and LC300s in Sri Lanka than on the streets of Japan
We still can't get either one of those cars through Toyota Japan.

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Very true, seeing people advertise G Classes, Raptors etc. Don't think the people who were crying for cars are buying.

amsandun · March 21

On 3/20/2025 at 8:41 AM, Izza said:

Has anyone got first hand experience in buying or selling a car recently? Is there an actual market price reduction at least for Kei cars? 1000cc category seems to have become even more expensive 🤦‍♂️

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Yeah, sold my father's Suzuki swift 2004 1.3cc for 4.0 Mil within a day of advertising on 2 famous sites. That was easy and within our expected price range. But saw the same being on the market again after 2 days for 42.95/- 🤑. I don't know how that went.

But my 2nd car, Vitz 2007 SCP90 was put up for sale the same way but had no luck yet. Just a couple of calls and so many calls from a car sale requesting to keep it at the sale for several days.

slingshot · March 21

Guys thoughts on the Yaris Ativ which will be coming from Thailand. Looks good, interior feels nice too but something tells me it's gonna be hot garbage unlike JDM models which came to Sri Lanka before.

kush · March 22

On 3/21/2025 at 3:27 PM, slingshot said:

Guys thoughts on the Yaris Ativ which will be coming from Thailand. Looks good, interior feels nice too but something tells me it's gonna be hot garbage unlike JDM models which came to Sri Lanka before.

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My uncle got the 2018 previous generation. Pretty good in quality typical Toyota no nonsense ride and handling.

Not Allion/ Premio/ Corolla but in par with the Vitz or may be little better.

For the price cannot complain.

New one comes with Toyota Safety Sense

kush · March 22

Only time will tell. At the moment only few cars were cleared and came in to the market.

Most of the middle class cannot afford or do not want to buy new cars at these prices.

Due to absurd tax structure decent cars used by average middle class has become unaffordable. likes of Corolla, Prius. Only tin cans available sub Rs. 10 Mn.

On the other hands there are RR, Ferrari, LR, coming in at over Rs. 100 Mn. which makes me wonder where the economy has heeded due the recent past.

Looks like so many people have benefited from the economic crisis.

When you take a typical middle class family number of months income that has to be put in to buy a car has gone up by 3-4 times.

Eg: Wagon R. @ Rs. 3.0 Mn. on a 300K income 10 Times in 2018

Now @ 8.0 Mn. may be on a 400K 20 times this is not factoring the disposable income due to high cost of essentials.

Corolla @ 8.0 Mn in 2018 and Rs. 28 Mn. now works out to 20 vs 70

Middle class migration has not stopped only the middle aged migration has reduced. Majority of middle class children end up migrating and starting their life in better countries.

This is not only due to cars but other factors too. In 5-6 or may be 10 years we might not end up having any experienced professionals in this country.

Gummybr · March 22

On 3/22/2025 at 2:55 AM, kush said:

Only time will tell. At the moment only few cars were cleared and came in to the market.

Most of the middle class cannot afford or do not want to buy new cars at these prices.

Due to absurd tax structure decent cars used by average middle class has become unaffordable. likes of Corolla, Prius. Only tin cans available sub Rs. 10 Mn.

On the other hands there are RR, Ferrari, LR, coming in at over Rs. 100 Mn. which makes me wonder where the economy has heeded due the recent past.

Looks like so many people have benefited from the economic crisis.

When you take a typical middle class family number of months income that has to be put in to buy a car has gone up by 3-4 times.

Eg: Wagon R. @ Rs. 3.0 Mn. on a 300K income 10 Times in 2018

Now @ 8.0 Mn. may be on a 400K 20 times this is not factoring the disposable income due to high cost of essentials.

Corolla @ 8.0 Mn in 2018 and Rs. 28 Mn. now works out to 20 vs 70

Middle class migration has not stopped only the middle aged migration has reduced. Majority of middle class children end up migrating and starting their life in better countries.

This is not only due to cars but other factors too. In 5-6 or may be 10 years we might not end up having any experienced professionals in this country.

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Funny thing machang even at those hefty price tags used vehicles seemed to be moving.

My take on it all is that as you say some have made a whole bunch of money whereas some haven't had any changes in their lifestyles. For example the guys in the Automobile trade (referring to dealers) we never got salary increments and we never got the full on incentives that we used to get. Same way I am sure certain other industries were impacted. Sometimes you wonder where all the money came from.

Interestingly people who never looked at a 100m vehicle are buying them in the bucket loads. People who stayed away from 20m vehicles are happily spending 30m plus now.

In 2018/19 a 100m vehicle was a Lamborghini or a Maybach or a Bentley. Nowadays so many go for more than 100m and there are so many buyers. Same goes to the 20-30m range how many would have paid that 20m for a brand new E Class or a 5 in 2019/20? Now they pay more for an used vehicle.

Gummybr · March 22

On 3/21/2025 at 1:51 AM, amsandun said:

Yeah, sold my father's Suzuki swift 2004 1.3cc for 4.0 Mil within a day of advertising on 2 famous sites. That was easy and within our expected price range. But saw the same being on the market again after 2 days for 42.95/- 🤑. I don't know how that went.

But my 2nd car, Vitz 2007 SCP90 was put up for sale the same way but had no luck yet. Just a couple of calls and so many calls from a car sale requesting to keep it at the sale for several days.

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Interesting, you know when I got rid of my Alto I just advertised on the quick site and also on vehicle roof first guys who came bargained like crazy but I didn't budge, then another guy came and paid an advance after three weeks and a few days later came and said he can't buy it due to the crib and so I put it again on a Sunday and by Monday it was sold at 50k less than advertised. This was back in January and mind you it was an Alto 800

iRage · March 23

On 3/21/2025 at 3:27 PM, slingshot said:

Guys thoughts on the Yaris Ativ which will be coming from Thailand. Looks good, interior feels nice too but something tells me it's gonna be hot garbage unlike JDM models which came to Sri Lanka before.

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When living in Vietnam, the common taxi car was the Vios and later Yaris Ativ. These cars, just a few years old, had nearly half a million miles, and they were holding up extremely well. The drivers claimed they did only normal running maintenance like changing brake pads, clutches, etc...one actually went to the extent of showing me the service logs as I was skeptical. Look at the Mazda2, City/Fit Aria/Grace...they all were made in Thailand they have fared quite decently (infact in some cases the export models out of thailand have had lesser issues than the JDM made and sold model). It is just that we Lankans are used to the entry level models (eg. Corolla) and the older metal boxes like the Kijang thus give Thai assembled models a bad rap. Heck. All those JDM Hiluxes those guys brag about to sell all come from Thailand (and the Thai export model is much better than the JDM variant...2.8 200hp/250hp vs 2.4L 150Hp)

On 3/22/2025 at 2:55 AM, kush said:

Most of the middle class cannot afford or do not want to buy new cars at these prices.

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I don't think we have high, middle, low class in SL anymore. This whole car importing seems to be an exercise in showing that it is now the haves and have-nots. The gap seems to be HUGE !

On 3/22/2025 at 4:30 AM, Gummybr said:

My take on it all is that as you say some have made a whole bunch of money whereas some haven't had any changes in their lifestyles.

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But the question is who? Like, who got such huge bumps in income? I can understand a few guys in crypto, some businessmen, doctors, and tuition teachers...but SO MANY?

My fear is people are in such a frenzy over getting a new car they have never seen for 5 years that they are just splurging without thinking about what they are actually spending and saving. Just do whatever possible to fit a monthly payment that fits into their monthly income together with whatever savings they racked up over the last 5 years. So a person who made 500,000/month and paid 300K for a car payment would not pay 400K for the car and save less. These people would not see this as a problem because cars are considered an appreciating asset anyway. This means they are also banking on the fact that car prices will go up in the future despite all the yelling and screaming about car prices being too high.

Am I the only one worried about the country's economy in the long run? With all these luxury car imports, there is a considerable amount of foreign exchange going out. At the same time, there is no significant increase in forex inflow outside of tourism (which is quite volatile, and there seems to be no solid plan to bolster other industries either). Obviously, the government, for now, seems happy because they just want to collect all the taxes just to show some numbers to the IMF. I wonder if anyone actually did any analysis on what the country can afford in terms of forex outflows for non-essential items.

Ruslan · March 24

1st GR Yaris in SL? wonder how much that has cost? Interesting.. looks like a 2nd Gen? @iRage

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ao8eLgyhC/

iRage · March 24

On 3/24/2025 at 2:26 AM, Ruslan said:

1st GR Yaris in SL? wonder how much that has cost? Interesting.. looks like a 2nd Gen? @iRage

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ao8eLgyhC/

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Yes it is a Mark 2 (there is still only one generation of GR Yaris). So 300hpplus all the updates that we told Toyota about at pretty much all the events we were dragged to and questionnaires made to answer Makes you realize that Toyota actually read them. The only hitch is 90% of the improvements were sports-related.

Uhh...as for the price...I can't tell you but what I can tell you is it was sold to the new owner with a huge markup.

sathyajithj99 · March 24

Looks like there's an issue in impoting vehicles like Nissan Xtrail epower, note, Toyota Raize hybrid which have an engine that acts as a generator and not engaged directly in turning the wheels.

slingshot · March 24

On 3/24/2025 at 2:40 AM, iRage said:

with a huge markup.

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about markups, don't even wanna talk about it. Sale owners squeeze all the desperate new buyers dry and will probably continue for a foreseeable time until demand reduces. For example, new Vezel Z play they bring down for 18mil range are being sold at 24-25mil at some sales. It's downright insane

Edited March 24 by slingshot

iRage · March 24

On 3/24/2025 at 1:48 PM, sathyajithj99 said:

Looks like there's an issue in impoting vehicles like Nissan Xtrail epower, note, Toyota Raize hybrid which have an engine that acts as a generator and not engaged directly in turning the wheels.

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Well...the new policy has a lot of loopholes and that is coupled with classification systems that are stuck in the 1990s.

The only ePower like vehicle I would hate more is the "Hybrid" Raize. So the positive outcome of this issue would be that the Raize/Rocky with the 1.2L WA-VEX engine does'nt come in. The Nissan ePower in the NOTE AURA is much better. The WA-VEX is a Daihatsu developed engine/power train. The Raize/Rocky got this because of two reasons. 1. The Toyota Hybrid System is too heavy for the vehicle and would hurt performance. 2. It would make the Raize/Rocky too expensive. The cheapness of the system shows. Feels like you have a home generator coming on and off to power up an electric motor. The Hybrids don't sell too well over here. The common variants are the petrols.

Noobdriver · March 24

What's everyone's opinion on the best bang-for-the-buck (Sub 12 million) family car?

sathyajithj99 · March 25

On 3/24/2025 at 5:35 PM, iRage said:

Well...the new policy has a lot of loopholes and that is coupled with classification systems that are stuck in the 1990s.

The only ePower like vehicle I would hate more is the "Hybrid" Raize. So the positive outcome of this issue would be that the Raize/Rocky with the 1.2L WA-VEX engine does'nt come in. The Nissan ePower in the NOTE AURA is much better. The WA-VEX is a Daihatsu developed engine/power train. The Raize/Rocky got this because of two reasons. 1. The Toyota Hybrid System is too heavy for the vehicle and would hurt performance. 2. It would make the Raize/Rocky too expensive. The cheapness of the system shows. Feels like you have a home generator coming on and off to power up an electric motor. The Hybrids don't sell too well over here. The common variants are the petrols.

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They seem to have no idea under which category these vehicles should be taxed. It's a pitty that Nissan Xtrail epower is the only mid sized crossover one could own for a reasonable price in SL

iRage · March 25

On 3/25/2025 at 12:28 AM, sathyajithj99 said:

They seem to have no idea under which category these vehicles should be taxed.

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When the people who make them, the countries that make them, and all countries that import them all call these cars Hybrids...why do we have to be different ? Japan has a HS Code for these cars and assigns it during import, how or why would there be a different code at the destination?

Are there any small engined CRVs coming in (the smaller engine capacity is the main reason why the XTrail is cheaper than the others)?

Edited March 25 by iRage

iRage · March 25

On 3/24/2025 at 10:16 PM, Noobdriver said:

What's everyone's opinion on the best bang-for-the-buck (Sub 12 million) family car?

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The new baby Kias are actually looking promising. Seems like they are decent performers as well.
The 1L Yaris is still a lethargic dog but in a high trim it is actually a decent city car (rent or borrow a larger engine car to leave the city )