Vehicle registration drops 4.86pc to 198k

KATHMANDU, AUG 06 -

Registrations of new vehicles dipped 4.86 percent to 198,343 units in the last fiscal year 2013-14 from 208,483 units in the previous fiscal, said the Department of Transport Management (DoTM).

The figures show that registrations of motor vehicles and heavy equipment like motorcycle, bus, crane, excavator, tipper and tempo dropped while a greater number of cars, vans, minibuses, trucks, pickup vans, micro buses, tractors and jeeps were registered during the review period.

Automobile dealers said that two-wheeler sales plunged mainly due to the tougher tests for driving licences which discouraged people from buying them. Registrations of two-wheelers fell 6.52 percent to 163,945 units from 175,381 units previously.

Gopi Neupane, general secretary of the Nepal Automobiles Dealers’ Association (Nada), said that the problem of driving licences in many zones pushed down two-wheeler sales. “When the new driving licence tests were enforced, many zonal offices did not have the proper facilities which affected sales,” he said.   

Aveek Jyoti, chairman of Nepal General Marketing (NGM), the authorised distributor of Hero motorcycles and scooters in Nepal, said that the comparatively tougher licence test was the main reason behind the decline in sales of two-wheelers. Jyoti said that NGM recorded a 15 percent drop in sales last year as they could not sell as many bikes as expected outside the Kathmandu valley.

“We couldn’t sell motorcycles in many zones like Narayani, Sagarmatha, Janakpur, Mechi and Koshi as there was no arrangement to obtain driving licences from the zonal offices till late in the fiscal year,” he said. According to the DoTM, registrations of two-wheelers plunged 91 percent in Janakpur.

However, the rapidly rising popularity of scooters has led to soaring sales even as the motorcycle business remains sluggish. Deepak Rauniyar, sales head at MAW Enterprises, the authorised distributor of Yamaha two-wheelers in Nepal, said that sales had almost doubled last year. Scooters have become a favourite with both male and female riders.

Meanwhile, car sales jumped 18 percent to 11,372 units from 9,595 units last year due to rising incomes and easier auto loans. “Middle income people have been upgrading to cars as financial institutions are focusing on auto loans,” said Neupane of Nada. He added that the road expansion project also led to a rise in demand for four-wheelers in many city areas.

Source: The Kathmandu Post