COLOMBO: India-made vehicles have managed to remain at the top in new motor vehicle registration in Sri Lanka even as registrations as a whole hit a new low, data collected by JB Securities for the month of July show.
In the Brand New Segment, 1331 vehicles were registered in July, down from 1490 units in the previous month and from 6773 units 12 months ago. But 663 of the 1331 units registered in July were from the Maruti stable. And this has been an improvement since June, when 633 Mautis were registered. The India-made Hyundai Eon was a poor second with 88 units being registered, but still higher that Renault’s Kwid which managed 72.
There has been a precipitous fall in the Three Wheeler Category, from 6995 units registered in June to 3678 in July. There has also been a steep fall from last year. Three Wheeler registrations had come down from 12,248 a year ago to 3678 in July. Even so, Bajaj maintains its lead in this segment. It accounts for 87 percent of the market. It is followed by TVS (9 .2 percent) and Piaggio (3.6 percent).
As regards Two Wheelers, the number of units registered has come down from 29,264 in June to 24,994 in July. A year ago, 33,722 units were registered. As in the Three Wheeler Category, Bajaj is the dominant player in the Two-Wheeler category also. It has 30.7 percent of the market share. Hero accounts for 29 percent, and TVS 14 percent, all three all Indian.
In the Pick Up Truck Category too, Indian makes dominate. Currently, Tata has 53 percent of the market, followed by Mahindra, which accounts for 14 percent. Of course, as in other categories, there has been a fall in registrations in this category too. There were 280 registrations in July, while in June, it was 348 and a year ago, it was 374.
The Tatas and Mahindras continue to dominate the Mini Truck Category despite the fact there has been a decline in new registrations. The Tatas still account for 59.5 percent of the Mini Truck market, followed by the Manindras who account for 3.3 percent .In July, 1148 units were registered while in June it had been 1425 units. A year ago it was 1569.
The Lite Truck category also saw a decline in new registrations, but the dominance of Indian companies has not been challenged. The Mahindras are the market leaders accounting for 68 percent of it. But the number of units registered in July came down to 533 units from 648 in June and from 696 a year ago.
The Heavy Truck category continues to be in the hands of Indian companies with Lanka Ashok Leyland dominating the market with a share of 47.4 percent. The Tatas are number two with a share of 33.1 percent and Eicher, number three, with 9.8 percent. But Heavy Truck registration had increased marginally from 126 registrations in June to 134 in July.
In the Passenger Bus Sector, the dominance of the Indo-Sri Lankan joint venture, Lanka Ashok Leyland, remains unchallenged. It’s the market leader cornering 54.8 percent of it. And as in the case of Heavy Truck, bus registration had gone up from 176 in June to 179.