Business Drive

Hyundai confident of Sri Lankan market

Anjana Samarasinghe

Sri Lanka needs to adopt quality standards in importing motor vehicles to Sri Lanka before the country becomes a dumping yard in Asia.

Marketing Manager of Hyundai Lanka (Pvt) Ltd Manori Attanayaka Jayakody told Daily News Business the country needs to focus on adopting quality standards when importing motor vehicles.

“Any manufacturer could easily enter the local motor vehicle market without any barrier,” she said. Many countries in the world adopt safety standards and environmental standards when importing motor vehicles for their countries. Adopting standards could prevent substandard motor vehicles coming to Sri Lanka,” she said.

There was a drastic decline in the passenger car market last year due to high price increase of luxury cars in the country. The high import duty imposed on luxury cars resulted in the high price increase. Last year there were two duty revisions,” she said.

“The import duty impacts badly on the reconditioned segment too.

There is no major price difference between reconditioned vehicles and brand new vehicles. Today many customers do not change their cars regularly.” Last year all the brand new luxury car importers survived through the car permits.

There were 7,000 permits last year. All the brand new car importers fight for the limited number of car permits for their survival, she said.

“However statistics show that these import duties have not contributed to the increase in government revenue”.

Most of the luxury cars have been imported for permit holders last year and no considerable amount of revenue has been generated through this, she said.

The Sri Lankan market has high potential to grow and Hyundai is confident on Sri Lankan market. Hyundai Lanka hopes to invest in Sri Lanka but are focusing on the current economic conditions before making any move,” she said.

Hyundai Lanka has also invested heavily on their workshop expansion and have doubled their capacity. The industry also expects a slight market growth this year too and they depend on government vehicle permits.

Mercedes-Benz C-Class successful from launch

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class has emerged the winner of Germany’s largest vote for the most popular car by a wide margin. The motoring organisation ADAC has presented its sought-after “Yellow Angel 2008” award to the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class for outstanding performance.

The C-Class has set new standards in its segment since its market launch. In addition to the appealing design and hallmark Mercedes refinement the Mercedes-Benz C-Class also offers the latest technical advances.

These include the Agility Control package with situation-responsive shock absorber control, the Intelligent Light System with five different lighting functions and the anticipatory occupant protection system PRE-SAFE(R).

The C-Class has already collected several awards for its exceptional status in the mid-range segment.

The readers of Auto Bild voted it the most attractive saloon; the motoring magazine Auto, Motor and Sport declared it the most appealing medium-sized car and 350,000 participants in Europe’s largest Internet survey voted it Europe’s favourite car with the 2007 “Carolina” Internet Auto Award.

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is also very much a bestseller. With 261,500 examples sold worldwide in 2007, unit sales of the saloon increased by 57 percent.

In Sri Lanka, the new C-Class started successfully from its launch in September 2007 and is very competitive in its segment, according to Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC, the sole distributor for Mercedes-Benz automobile in Sri Lanka.

The “Yellow Angel” awards, which the ADAC presents annually for outstanding performance, are named after the nickname given to the ADAC’s friendly breakdown service personnel and are among Europe’s most sought-after motoring awards.

Consumers find them a valuable decision-making guide, as criteria such as price/performance ratio, practicality, economy; safety and environmental compatibility also play a part in the selection process.

The vote was between 36 vehicles which newly entered the market in 2007. Around 340,000 people cast their votes and awarded first place to the Mercedes-Benz C-Class by a wide margin over the runner-up. Europe’s largest motoring association with around 16 million members rewarded this clear-cut result.

The ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club) is Germany’s and Europe’s largest automobile club, with 15,290,614 members in August 2005. It was founded on May 24, 1903 as “Deutsche Motorradfahrer-Vereinigung” and renamed in 1911.

Browns launches “PowerMart”

In line with the concept of offering customers one stop convenience, “Browns PowerMart” has been established at 107B, Havelock Road, Colombo 05.

The PowerMart will initially make available a range of Exide branded automotive and motorcycle batteries and other automotive battery accessories.

In the future a range of automotive and non-automotive power products/brands will be launched, providing Sri Lankan consumers quality products and services, under one roof.

The Browns PowerMart will have the ability to provide Exide customers a world class level of professional service and customer care. Another service offered through Browns PowerMart is the “Battmobile” offering customers a real value addition free of charge.