Vehicle registration drops 40% in October

Vehicle Registrations dropped by 39.6% Year-on-Year to reach 26,667 in the month of October, of which 66.1% were purchased on credit as compared with 58.2% last year, according to information analyzed by JB Securities.

In total, 1,076 motor cars were registered during the month, down from 3,835 in the previous year, with 46.7% being purchased on credit. 646 cars registered were brand new whilst 430 were reconditioned vehicles.

Noteworthy amongst the statistics for the registration of brand new vehicles has been a gradual increase in the registration of the brand Micro Cars, which reached its highest point yet at 270 registrations in October.

Micro cars also enjoyed the highest amount of registrations across all brands during the month, a position previously enjoyed by the brands Perodua, and Maruti/Suzuki before it.

Micro cars is a brand which is currently assembled in Sri Lanka and consequently benefits from being eligible for exemptions on duty unlike other more established brands which had previously been much more popular in the local market but have now seen registrations drop significantly.

Meanwhile, in the SUV segment 676 new vehicles were registered, 370 of which were direct purchases down from 1,058 registrations in the previous year, of which 522 were purchased outright.

The sharp downward trend in vehicle registrations carried across all other segments with a further 2,286 l orries being registered, down from 3,083, whilst motorbikes dipped to 12,513 registrations, as compared with 20,349 in the previous year.

Three-wheelers also declined to 7,898 registrations, as compared with 12,040. Notably, the brand Bajaj accounted for 7,350 of total registrations.