‘Only vehicles that suit  road conditions here should be imported’

Sri Lanka must only import vehicles that suit the traffic and road conditions of the country once vehicle imports are allowed, Virann De Zoysa of the Ceylon Motor Traders Association (CMTA) said yesterday.He added that this can easily be done by consulting the manufacturer of the vehicle.

“We have been importing vehicles without asking these questions. For example, in 2015, the tax on electric vehicles was dropped to 10 percent. The Nissan Leaf was one of the most popular imported electric vehicles. However, Nissan told us that the Leaf was not suitable for Sri Lanka or the rest of the region. They clearly stated that if the vehicle was imported to Sri Lanka, it would fail in four years. We told this to everyone who needed to know. However, because there were no regulations, 5,000 Nissan Leaf vehicles were imported to Sri Lanka. All the batteries have failed,” he said.

De Zoysa said most Leaf users can now travel only short distances. This has become a problem not only for the customer but also for the country. To change one of the batteries cost at least 7,500 dollars, he said.

“That is for a second-hand battery. Multiply that by 5,000 and the cost is over 11 billion rupees. If we had listened to the manufacturer and waited until it produced a vehicle that’s suitable for us, this could have been avoided,” he said.

De Zoysa added that Suzuki tested their WagonR vehicle for one and a half years in Sri Lanka. They drove the vehicle for over 100,000 kilometres and studied the traffic and road conditions, he said.

“However, in those one and a half years that Suzuki was testing to manufacture a version that suits us best, 30,000 second-hand vehicles were imported. Most of these used vehicles had an advanced safety feature called ‘safety breaking.’ Suzuki said that because of our road conditions, this feature will malfunction. This has caused many accidents,” he said.Once Sri Lanka starts importing vehicles, these things have to be taken into account, he said. (RK)