About 2,000 hybrid electric vehicles, which combine an internal combustion engine with electric motors to drive them, are already on the roads, imported mainly from Japan.
Azli Ismail, sales director and local partner of Hybrid Motors Lanka, said the main problem for hybrid owners was the lack of a specialised maintenance centre.
Hybrid Motors Lanka is a joint venture with Hybrid Motors Singapore set up with an investment of 500,000 US dollars.
The first hybrid engineering centre set in Maligawatte in Colombo will be open from Monday and can service about 10 cars a day.
"Hybrid cars are cheap with the import tax cut and we believe more people will buy them now that there is a service centre," Ismail said.
He said they also intend translating into Sinhalese car operating manuals in Japanese that have come with the hybrids which local owners cannot read.
Hybrid Motors managing director Geraldine Lim told Vimasuma.com, our sister news site, they plan to expand the service sta