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Car sellers getting back on feet

Sohel Parvez
Reconditioned car sellers are gradually recovering from the slump in the first quarter of the year thanks to the return of political stability, importers said.
The trend of spending is on the rise, especially in automobiles, as there has been no unrest in the political arena for the last few months, said Abdul Haque, managing director of Haq’s Bay, one of the leading reconditioned car sellers.
Auto sales suffered heavily for the violent political unrest that set off in the first week of January.
The importers were also cautious about taking the cars out of ports fearing vandalism on way to their final destina-
tions. Moreover, the car sellers were forced to keep many of their showrooms closed amid risks of attacks.
The operators said the situation began improving from March, as political tension started to ease gradually.
Haq's Bay, which recorded just over 800 units of sales of reconditioned cars in January, logged in 1,300 units in March.
The number rose gradually in the next three months and hit nearly 2,000 units in June, according to Haque.
If there is political stability, the business will go smoothly from here onwards, he said.
Other old car importers also claimed of good sales ahead of the budget for fiscal 2015-16.
The demand usually picks up ahead of the national budget upon fears that tax on cars may be hiked in the forthcoming outlay, said Mahbubul Haq Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers & Dealers Association (Barvida).
"This year too we saw a similar behaviour of the customers," said the secretary of the lobby group of old car importers who dominate the country's car market of 15,000 units a year.
The government though has not hiked the taxes on old car imports and subsequently, sales became sluggish later, although importers were expecting a rise in demand ahead of Eid.
It may be that those who wanted to buy cars marking the festival have already bought them prior to the budget to avert the risks of higher costs, Chowdhury said.
Md Omer Khaled Sadi, a banker, is one of such buyers. Sadi bought a Toyota Premio at the end of May to replace his Toyota Fielder.
Eid is an occasion to buy, but the national budget was the main factor, he said.
“For me, the purchase in May served both the purposes. I saw many others looking for their favourite models and brands on the day I bought the car," he added.
Chowdhury said the market is recovering gradually.
"The economy is heading toward stability. We expect the market will be good in the current year," said Barvida President Md Abdul Hamid Sharif.