Will the Government Reduce Import duties on Vehicles?

By Nilantha Bandara,

28th of Oct,

                                                                                                                                                                    The government imposed taxes for the vehicle categories on 31st of March 2012,

According to that, import duties of a range of vehicles such as hybrid cars, diesel and petrol powered cars, diesel and petrol powered vans have been raised and Import duties of double cabs, three wheelers and motor bikes too have been jumped up.

Import duties of petrol cars of engine capacity ranges from below 1000 cc, between 1000 – 1600 cc and 1600 – 2000 cc too  have been raised to 200% from the earlier duties 120% , so it had risen up 80%, while Import duties of petrol cars which has an engine capacity ranging between 2000cc to 3000cc has been raised from the 154% to 250% of the total import value.

It sad to be more than 5000 brand new vehicles are in the yards due to lack of demand majority of them are brought back to sri lanka after the tax increases, the models like "Maruti" are among of them because of 200% import taxes,

The big question is that will the government is going to reduce import duties on vehicles near future so the consumers are benefited of that, these days rumors are spreading that they are going to reduce import tax levels for 30-40%. if this happens in the near future, then,

• What will happen to consumers & car sale owners who has ordered cars already for existing import tax levels?
• What will be the demand for reconditioned vehicles in the same categories?
• What will be the prices in the car sales in the existing market?

These questions up to you and will have answers surely in the near future !!!