Car sales crash as business bears brunt of blockade

Retail sales of motor vehicles have fallen headlong as a result of the ongoing blockade-hartal programmes since January 5, market sources said, as the political deadlock takes its toll on the economy.       

Assemblers and traders said motor vehicles need to ply the road soon after purchases and buyers usually do not take risk of taking their new cars out on the road under such situation.

A number of them claimed that their sales have been almost naught since January 5.

Md Motiur Rahman, managing director at the Uttara Motors Ltd, a leading vehicle assembler in Bangladesh, said their sales of all types of motorised vehicles had dropped alarmingly low since the beginning the political turmoil.

"Sales of all types of vehicles, be it auto rickshaw or commercial vehicles, have dropped significantly," he said.

Currently, some emergency sales and some types of sales in rural areas are happening, the traders said.

Mr Rahman, however, said the big trouble is the movement of assembled vehicles from factories to branch offices. Uttara Motors has 15 branch outlets and 200 dealers across the country.

"I think some sales would have taken place if we could move the ready vehicles from the factory to the branches."

The Uttara Motors business house has three factories in Bogra, Chittagong and Dhaka.

Abdul Hoque, managing director at Hoq's Bay, a leading retailer with three outlets in the city, said his sales also dropped significantly.

"My outlets did not sell even a single car over the past more than two weeks," said Mr Hoque, also a director of the country's apex trade body-FBCCI.

According to the car showroom, they used to sell around 60 motorised vehicles a month.

Mr Hoque, mainly a reconditioned car seller, said his around 1000 private passenger cars and different types of SUV now remained stranded at the Mongla Port amid the blockade programme.

He said 1000 units of imported motor vehicles were now lying stranded at the seaport as they are not carrying those in the city for poor demand for the luxury products.

Hasnat Md Abu Obida, managing director of MAS Motors, a concern of TK Group, said this blockade posed the biggest threat for them.

MAS Motors launched the motor business few years back with the built-in motorcycles being imported from China.

Mr Obida said this blockade is happening at a time when they are developing countrywide dealerships.

"We're in a very odd situation with our potential dealers, as they are ready with money to do business with us," he said.

Bangladesh's total sales of motorised vehicles in 2014 totalled 160,639 units, according to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).

Motorcycle is the biggest segment of total motorised vehicles in the country, constituting more than 55 per cent.

Auto-rickshaws are the second-largest segment of motor vehicles with sales of nearly 20,000 in 2014.

Private passenger car is the third, comprising nearly 15,000-unit sales in 2014.

Jasimharoon@yahoo.com