Parallel imports zoom ahead in car sales

Parallel imported cars are accelerating hard in the sales lane and have, in the case of one brand, overtaken sales by the authorised agent, reported The Straits Times. 

In response to queries from The Straits Times, the Land Transport Authority said 4,330 new cars registered in the first quarter of this year were sold by parallel importers - companies which are not officially appointed by the manufacturer. That represents 21.8 percent of the total number of new cars sold in the three-month period. The market share is nearly double what parallel imports had at the same time last year.

Three brands make up the bulk of parallel import sales - Honda, Toyota and Mercedes-Benz. In the case of Honda, parallel imports actually outsold cars registered by authorised agent Kah Motor, driven by the popularity of the Vezel compact crossover. In the first three months, parallel imported Hondas accounted for 64 percent of all Honda cars sold here. For Toyota, the figure was 38.3 percent, fuelled by sales of the Harrier and the Sienta. And for Mercedes-Benz, the C-class sedan was the most popular parallel import choice.

Last year, their slice of the pie was 14.8 percent. But judging by the first quarter, it could zoom past 25 percent for the whole of this year.