otor car registration figures for July show a significant increase with 2,551 registrations, compared to 2,256 in June and 2,305 year-on-year (yoy), with 827 brand new cars composing the figure, according to JB Securities’ market research.

“First signs of a major up tick in vehicle registrations, July numbers show a noticeable increase. It remains to be seen whether this is a monthly anomaly or signs of a trend reversal,” said JB Securities CEO Murtaza Jafferjee.

The increase was boosted by hybrid vehicles, which composed 1,942 of the 2,551 total registrations, up from 1,481 in June and 799 yoy.

Toyota led the green car wave with 1,006 pre-owned cars, from 837 in June and 465 yoy, while 106 of the 120 new hybrid registrations were also claimed by Toyota with 48 Axio Hybrid units registered compared to 14 the month before.

Honda kept to their second place in hybrid cars with 474 registrations compared to 454 in June and 323 yoy, while only claiming 6 new registrations.

Ten brand new Mercedes Benz S400 units and 2 pre-owned BMW Active Hybrids rounded up the luxury hybrid car category, while Honda dominated the SUV segment with a massive 328 new registrations of Honda Vezel, up from 90 in June and an almost 200 percent  of its aggregate registrations of 172 until July.

Meanwhile the number of electric cars registered for July went up by just 1 compared to June.

“Electric cars were 11 units mainly Nissan Leaf. We are yet to see a Tesla import, it’s a great car,” Jafferjee noted.

He hopes the government does not increase tax rates on hybrids, as a sizable Rs.47 billion is collected as revenue each year.

“If one factors in total social cost due to better fuel efficiency, the taxation policy has been in the right direction. Nevertheless, I have a niggling feeling that the tax rate of 60 percent may go up,” said Jafferjee.

Meanwhile, brand new car registrations were led by Maruti Suzuki’s 351 units, up from 255 in June and 275 yoy; fuelled by 38 Celerios and followed by Toyota’s 175, from 82 in June and 65 yoy; with contributions by Axios and 59 Allion and Premios.