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New car sales drive down

Md Hasan
Car sellers say the prices of Japanese new cars soared on the local market after the yen strengthened, part of the reason customers are reluctant to buy luxury cars.
However, the market gathered slight steam when government agencies and organisations pur- ' chased brand new cars shortly after January2007.
Anwar Jamil Siddiqui, executive vice-president of Pacific Motors Ltd, says the global recession on one hand and the hardening yen on the other dulled business in Bangladesh.
He says the stronger yen hiked the new car prices on the local market, as most cars are imported from Japan.
The global economic crisis forced American and European auto giants into a tight corner.
The teetering US auto industry and its union work force faced painful sacrifices and an uphill struggle to recovery.
The US Treasury finalised a S4 billion loan to troubled cash-
Sales of brand-new cars on the local market have dropped by 30 percent over the last three months, as big businesses are on the wait-and-see mode, assessing fallout from the global economic turmoil.
Market insiders say the market is slowly regaining confidence after a massive fall in sales, triggered by a change in political scenes in early 2007. Now, the global economic crisis has shaped up into the latest hurdle.
Market movers in Bangladesh are seemingly shaken by the global economic crisis, says Hamdur
Rahaman, senior executive manager of Navana Ltd, an importer of the JapaneseToyota brand.
"Bangladeshi buyers are showing reluctance in purchasing luxury cars," he says.
Shabbir Hasan, manager (marketing) of Rangs Motors Ltd, says: "Car sales dropped by 30 percent in tire last three months."
Sales were slack ahead of the December 29 elections. The new tax structure is also often blamed for the hike in the prices of luxury cars.
Rangs car sales dropped to 140 units in 2008 from 200 units in 2007. The company usually imports Japanese brands such as Mitsubishi, Hatch-Pac and Lancer. Rangs is the
market leader in terms of new car sales, capturing a 35 percent market share.
In Bangladesh, around 20,000 cars are annually imported from Japan, Germany, China and Sweden. Only 2,000 brand new cars are imported a year.
Financial institutions, telecom companies, garment factory owners and pharmaceuticals companies are the main buyers of new cars.
Besides usual brands such as Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi, some other brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz are also sold in Bangladeshi. However, the sales of high-end cars have been off since mid-2007, when the caretaker government intensi-
strapped carmaker Chrysler.
1116 loan is part of a 13.4-billion-dollar rescue package the US government approved in December for General Motors and Chrysler to stave off collapse amid tight credit and dismal sales.
The first segment of the bailout provides four billion dollars each to GM and to Chrysler, the smallest of the BigThree US automakers.
GM, the largest US automaker, was to receive an additional 5.4 billion dollars in mid-January and would be eligible for a further 4 billion dollars from February' pending congressional action. Treasury has also provided six billion dollars in aid to GMAC, GM's financial arm.