Japanese second-hand cars flooding the market

By Andrew Adamides

A WHOPPING 77 per cent of all cars imported into Cyprus are second-hand, and the government is still considering slapping extra duty on the vehicles.

Speaking after a meeting held last week with the car importers’ association, Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou said the problems caused by the glut of second hand cars was getting worse, with the amount of duty lost on the sale of new cars increasing as people switched to buying the cheaper, higher-specification Japanese imports instead.

A tax package aimed at pushing down the sales of such vehicles was rejected in May. When the imports first started coming to Cyprus, they made up just 23 to 25 per cent of vehicle imported.

There are also concerns that some of the cars do not meet European specifications, and about what might happen if Cyprus’ bid for EU accession is successful.

The vehicles, known in the UK as “grey” imports, are Japanese-market cars, both different versions of cars sold new locally and Japan-only models.

Their sales in countries allowing their import have been slowly rising over the past few years, as customers are lured away from local-market cars by the imported vehicles’ higher-specifications – most have air conditioning as standard – and lower prices.

But they differ from European-spec vehicles in several ways. Fuel fillers, lights, speedometers, brakes and tyres are all areas which need work in order to bring them into line with European-market cars, although admittedly not all models may require all the alterations.

Many of the imported Japanese vehicles sold in image-conscious Cyprus are four-wheel-drives and performance cars, although family saloons are also popular.

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