Reconditioned vehicle registrations outperform brand new: Analysis

Registrations of reconditioned vehicles in Sri Lanka continued to recover parallel to a decline in brand new registrations during the month of June.

According information analyzed by equities research firm, J.B. Securities, registration of reconditioned vehicles increased by a drastic 143 percent Yearon-Year (YoY), and 5.2 percent Month-on-Month (MoM) to 1,327.

Japanese made Toyota and Honda captured the majority of market share in the pre-owned segment with 976 and 325 registrations during the month respectively.

In the brand-new segment, registrations declined by 37 per cent YoY to just 556 registrations in June.

Maruti/Suzuki achieved a narrow lead in the brand-new segment with 166 registrations, followed by Micro and Perodua with 162 and 94 registrations respectively.

Meanwhile, duty-free permits continued to fuel registrations in the premium brand segment which saw 88 registrations in June, as compared with 41 in the previous year and this year’s peak of 134 registrations in January.

Brand new registrations under the BMW brand dipped to 32 from 52 in April and 84 in January however the segment’s short fall was balanced with the registration of 5 Jaguars and 12 Mercedes Benz cars.

Permit-fueled growth was also recorded across the SUV segment which posted 380 registrations during the month reflecting a 14 percent MoM increase but down a sharp 44 per cent YoY. Notably, registrations under SUV market leader, Mitsubishi Montero, declined from 137 in May to 105 last month.

Toyota recorded 72 registrations under its SUV category while Kia posted 34 registrations. Registrations under the Hybrid vehicle category, a segment promoted through significant tax concessions, continued to grow, reaching an all-time high of 724 registrations during the month against a pervious 669 registrations in June.

Toyota currently holds the market leadership position in the Hybrid category with 403 registrations followed by Honda with 320 registrations.

Meanwhile registrations of three-wheelers dipped from 6,799 in May to 6,525 last month as compared with this year’s current high of 8,178 registrations last January and a peak of 12,085 in January 2012.

Total vehicle registrations across all segments during the month touched 24,401 as compared with 23,917 registrations in the previous year and down from April’s high of 28,922 registrations.