Easy bank financing drive up four-wheelers sale
KATHMANDU, June 18:
Registration of four-wheelers increased by 19 percent in the first ten months of fiscal year 2013/14 compared to figures of the same period of 2012/13.
Statistics of the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) shows 9,350 units of vehicles under car/jeep/van segment were registered in the country during the review period.
Altogether 7,800 units of vehicles in the segment were registered in the same period of 2012/13.
Automobile dealers say easy bank financing and better after-sales service offered by dealers have contributed to rise in four-wheelers sale lately.
“These days dealers are focused on providing quality after-sales service. They have been increasing the network of service centers across the country,” Gopi Neupane, general secretary of Nepal Automobile Dealers´ Association (NADA), told Republica.
Neupane also attributes rising four-wheelers sale to easy auto loans offered by different banks and financial institutions. He said banks were offering auto loans at around 9 percent at present, down from 14 percent couple of years ago.
Rise in sale of four-wheelers is also due to healthy growth in sales of vehicles under car/jeep/van segment outside the valley. “The expansion of road network and the growing network of automobile dealers across the country has pushed up automobile sales,said Neupane.
According to NADA, sale of four-wheelers outside the valley accounts for around 40 percent of total four-wheelers sale in the country.
Sarik Bogati, marketing manager of Pooja International-the authorized distributor of Volkswagen vehicles in Nepal, said sales outside the valley accounts for almost 30 percent of Volkswagen´s total sales in Nepal. “Demand for four-wheelers is increasing in cities like Biratnagar, Pokhara, Dharan and Birgunj, among others,” Bogati said, adding “Out of every 60 units of vehicles sold, 12-15 units are sold outside the valley.”
He attributed the increasing demand for four-wheelers in markets outside the valley to expansion in road network and corporate people shifting their residence to cities outside the valley as Kathmandu is becoming over-crowded.
Rupesh Bhatta, assistant general manager of Laxmi Intercontinental-the authorized distributor of Hyundai vehicles in Nepal, said easy bank financing is the major reason behind rise in sales of four-wheelers. “As banks have been providing auto loans at around 9 percent, more people are using the facility to buy four-wheelers,” he said, adding, “Around 75 percent of our total customers purchase vehicles through bank financing.”
Despite rise in registration of four-wheelers, overall registration vehicles has come down during the review period. According to the statistics, a total of 159,468 units of vehicles were registered until mid-June, as against 173,847 units recorded in the same period in the previous fiscal year.
Similarly, registration of two-wheelers dropped to 131,917 units, compared to 147,283 units in the same period of 2012/13.
Source: Republica
