The vehicles for which the manufacturing tax has been reduced through new budget are currently not in use in any country in the world. The Finance Minister has prepared his budget proposals while eying the vehicles to roll out only in 2015, said the co-chairman of the Vehicle Importers’ Association, Kokila Deekiriwewa.

He made this observation when adaderanabiz.lk inquired whether there is any solar, hydrogen or helium powered vehicles being used in Sri Lanka currently.

Deekiriwewa further added that at present only models of these types of vehicles could be seen at motor vehicle exhibitions at Tokyo in Japan.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s recent budget proposals included increasing the tax imposed on motor vehicles. The major impact was on the 2.5 per cent tax on electric motorcars which was to be increased to 50 per cent. This is expected to push up the price of an increasingly popular make of vehicle in Sri Lanka, the Nissan Leaf by around Rs. 2.5 million.

However, in his budget speech the Finance Minister proposed to reduce manufacturing tax on several models of vehicles. Accordingly, steps have been taken to reduce the manufacturing tax on vehicle running on solar power, hydrogen or helium up to 2.5 per cent.

The Finance Minister said that through this move was to encourage the use of eco-friendly vehicles with minimum emissions as a step in the government’s moves to develop a cleaner environment in the country.

However, the Finance Minister made a similar statement while presenting the earlier interim budget where he proposed that the manufacturing tax on hybrid vehicles be increased and the manufacturing tax on electric motor cars be reduced to 2.5 per cent.

The picture shows the fully solar powered future car from Japan’s Honda Motors