Micro starts car exports
First consignment for Nepal:
Harshini Perera
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Economic Development Minister Basil
Rajapaksa inspecting a car to be exported to Nepal while
Micro Cars Limited Chairman/CEO Dr Lawrence Perera looks on.
Picture by Chaminda Hittetiya |
Micro Cars Limited will be exporting ten cars, of the Micro MX7 model
as an initial shipment to Nepal. There will be 150 cars in line with the
first year commitment from Micro to Nepal which will include Micro cars
as well as mini vans in the future.
The cars are sold in Nepal with the franchise of a Nepal distributor
who is financially strong, well-informed about the car market and who
can deliver a good after service facility, Micro Cars Limited
Chairman/CEO Dr Lawrence Perera said at the shipment of cars to Nepal
yesterday.
He said the Micro MX7 will be exported at US $10,000 without export
taxes which is generally priced at Rs 2.2 million in Sri Lanka.
The car will be priced at Rs 2.3 million in Nepal. The company uses
40 to 50 percent import component in vehicle manufacturing while 35
percent is from the local component. It encourages the local repairers
and manufacturers.
“We have come to a proposal with the Transport Ministry to test ten
Micro buses to be used in the public transportation system as an initial
test.
“The car market in Sri Lanka is around 20,000 a year but we as a
local company could only take 10 percent of the market share,” he said.
“We have a larger market share of 80 percent in the SUV jeep segment
while the small car segment is 10 to 12 percent and 15 percent for
medium cars. The best selling vehicle is SUVs and four new models will
be launched in the future,” Dr Perera said.
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