Sri Lanka vehicle registrations drop in April: JB Securities

Jun 02, 2017 (LBO) - Total vehicle registrations in Sri Lanka fell to 33,438 units in April from 40,021 in March, with declines in all major categories except three-wheelers and tractors, JB Securities said in a research note, likely affected by the holiday season.

Three-wheelers observed a 12 percent growth, month-on-month, to 1,452 units in April. Bajaj increased its market share to 94 percent from 90 percent, while the financing share for 3-wheelers increased to 65 percent from 57 percent in April. The financing share is the number of vehicles that have been bought on finance. Motorcar registrations decreased to 2,552 units in April, from 2,960 units in March. The figure is down from a massive 14,544 units recorded in September 2015, which analysts say was due to lower taxes and cost of financing. Toyota Wigo’s momentum slowed down in April followed by a sharp drop in Perodua’s AG1GZ1 model. The small car segment share jumped to 93 percent in April from 58 percent in the previous month. Financing share for brand-new motor cars increased slightly to 53.8 percent from 50.8 percent last month. Electric car registration fell by almost 50 percent in April from the previous month. Most of the electric cars registered were Nissan Leaf. Both brand-new and pre-owned Hybrid registrations fell, with Toyota Axio witnessing a drop.

Suzuki Wagon R was slightly up. Financing share for hybrids increased to 52.

1 percent from 50.9 percent. Two-wheelers registered were 26,089, a 12.5 percent decrease, with units with less than 130CC seeing drop-in segment share from 84 percent to 78 percent. Bajaj increased its brand share from 23 percent to 27 percent, while Honda observed a drop to 32 percent from 36.7 percent. Vans, SUVs, lorries and buses too saw registrations drop in the month of April. However, hand tractors and large tractors both saw more than 10 percent increases in registrations in April over March.