iRage

@matroska...let's find out ! 

Yes....considering the current stage of technology, a lot of things should be possible and easier to do. Sadly, haste and greed mixed with an outright lack of common-sense sort of messes that up .

Could be very car specific too. Maybe the software isn't that good ?

One thing I saw regarding the Rivians (and the Ford trucks) were that the torque delivery was not optimized for situations like rock crawling due to the software. Later on apparently it was made to perform a lot better. 

Nah...they won't pay back for the weapons. I doubt the American politicians expect them to either, but I am sure they have other interests in mind. 

Its needed for national security and stability in the region...

As long as the engine has been run every now and then and the cylinders are not drained of oil and rusted out and the gaskets/seals have gone through a decent heat/de-heat cycle..the others are pretty straight forward and the car shouldn't be that bad.
So if you can get it at a right price, having to invest in replacing rubber hoses, bushings, and refurbing the brakes might be a good way to spend money. A serious headache might be the electronics... 

The gun metallic ones that are doing the SNS rounds ?

Seriously...what happened to F1 ? These days it seems to have more drama than a Mexican day time soap and a focus on racing lesser than a teenage boy's focus trying to do homework at an all female yoga studio. 

Oh yeah...I agree with the fact that this sounds completely stupid as a large percentage of the population simply cannot run without petrol. Outside of Addis it is going to be a huge issue. Especially in the farming/industrial regions.
The very few rich people will be able to run EVs and that is about it. Heck...the government it self..they have  HUGE fleet of the usual cars...are they going to replace all of that ?

They do create most of their electricity using renewal sources...and they did have a sensible electrification plan which involved changing over to electric and hydrogen busses and other public transport systems. They even piloted EV busses and offered commuters free transport as well. Sad to hear that the government took such a drastic step as this is going to derail whatever chances their "original" EV strategy had.

New beginnings. New car...New team...New drama....same whiny little boy  
Soon at a track near you
 

If I am not mistaken, Ethiopia produces A LOT of its energy from waste and biogases...so the whole 97% generation thing is quite true. However, like you said the problem is reach...I believe only a small % of the population actually have access to electricity (50% or so). Partly due to infrastructure spread and partly due to economic reasons.
Now considering that almost every car you see on the road are ICE cars, in the city and in the villages, I wonder how this is going to work. Heck there are many villages where people don't have electricity but do have some sort of run down car to get them to the nearest market/city/etc.... 

Yes...most SUV drivers think that it is all about stepping on the gas and tearing through everything. What they don't realise is that they are a menace and a danger to the environment, everyone around them and themselves.

That is a pretty picture

Well now...you ARE a brave little Gummy Bear aren't you ?

I am sure you were Bouncing here and there and everywhere...(on) High adventures that's beyond compare

Okay...now that I got that out of my system...could it be because you were not particularly overly careful of hurting the thing whilst most SUV owners are too scared to take their pavement queens off the paved road ? Also...a lot of SUVs/Crossovers have a lot of undercarriage hang. So even though the car is high the clearance under the car is not that much greater than most normal cars. 

Yay...what gummy bear mentioned. If not properly taken serviced or repaired those turbos can be a *$(#(W#$$%#Q !

I started flagging and blocking the spam accounts but it simply cannot be pushed back. Glad @MADZ looked in to it..but seems like the spam is back again

Past life huh ?
Explains all the female ghost sightings and women in Preseas running miles away from you as soon as possible.

Am I the only one who loves and gets all teary eyed over turbo lag ? Not that the GR Yaris is lethargic and slouchy off boost but that whole just a econobox feel to a sudden kick in the rear with turbo boost is simply orgasmic and very reminiscent of a world when life was simpler time (as a kid who boosted his and friends' parents' cars atleast)

@AVANTE when did losing one's sanity and large amounts of money becoming mutually exclusive ?

...well...gay or man slaughtered...as long as both are alive, I suppose that is a positive

Yupp....everyone from Indra traders to offshore advice columnists and physical enhancement consultants to travel consultants seem to be more active than the petrol heads.

Just following up on this since I haven't seen neither you nor @AVANTE online for a while....

Are you currently serving 30 to life for man slaughter (or is the more woke PC term person-slaughter)?

Hmm..interesting.

But what would the overall cost be once you factor in airtravel, food and board, etc... ?

This whole full electric thing is utter BS. It is not the savior of the planet. At no point in the history of man kind has humanity had one single solution for a problem. EVs are needed but so are other forms of vehicles. They really need to look in to commercializing synthetic fuels. That will keep the billions of cars already on the road running (instead of driving them to the scrap yard)

Well.. @Gummybr...can the high-end vehicles imported by a few actually sustain the market or the industry in SL ? I still think we could look at Singapore and take a lesson from them....COEs...or go back to the permits of the past (like in the 80s...which is what the whole COE concept was based off anyway). When the IMF says open the market they do not mean free flow of whatever the heck you want to do. They would want some sensibility in it (which is what your tax proposition is).

This is an opportunity to properly structure our car and spare parts imports...let the actual authorized dealers bring in parts and new vehicles and when possible CPOs. If external car sales want to operate...regulate the hell out of them (on the classes and types of vehicles they can bring down), again, they import a car only for the permit that their client has. For car part shops....get the parts from the agent (this is what has happened everywhere else I have lived...the outside parts shops are registered distributers) . Once the agents start selling it in large volumes the prices will come down. Right now they sell a hand full of parts which has to keep the agency a float (part of it actually).

But then...like you said...this is just going to be one heck of a mess where the ultra rich can bring in their toys.

I think Rextons got a bad rep because of the locally assembled models which were not up to SsangYong's international standards. Then there was also the issue of what people were expecting...maintaining those Merc engines were not as cheap as taking it to your local grease monkey with 3rd rate cheap parts from Sirimal aiya's parts-shop. I thin it would have done a lot better if they stuck to the Korean built models (but then it might not have been price competitive).

As for deisgns like the Musso truck...well...perhaps they were a bit ahead of their time. Later on we got plenty of wierd Subarus and such that had wierd shapes.

As for the Prado...well...there is nothing to hate about it nor is it exceptionally better than most other cars. Its a pretty good jack of all trades (where as something like a Pajero would be really good and one or two things but not live up to in some areas). So which is why it is liked by most around the world. But in SL its liked for the belief that it is a luxury vehicle because of its price. Now..with the 2.7L petrol engine the Prado is nothing but a bloody curse that makes you wonder if castrating yourself with a blunt plastic butter knife would be more comforting. With some of the diesel variants it is a lot better. Even the latest variants with a 500nm diesel engine you wish you had a bit more torque when pulling a trailer and stuff. On road...it does feel loose and wobbly compared to the competition (again..onroad compromise for offroad performance).

However, here is the thing...you come to places like Africa or regions in SEA...the cars like the SsangYongs do not simply survive (some UN missions got fleets of Rextons back in the day...did not last). Those that do seem to go on even when the body is falling off are typically the Mitsubishis (especially in SEA), Toyotas and Nissans. Yes you might keep them running but then you are pretty much keeping a jalopy on life supoort.

Now here is the thinking...whilst IMF did advice the government to lift import bans to stimulate market activity, it does not mean they asked the government to open up non-sensibly to drain out the USD and even to prioritize things like cars over basic necessities (e.g. IMF is not going to issue directives to import cars over buying proper drugs or investments in to infrastructure or public service development).

So the way I see it...the government is going to have to impose a new tax system for car imports. However as individuals get directly taxed on their income, it is highly likely that people don't have enough money to purchase a new car (which is going to be expensive). So perhaps the govt will introduce some incentive scheme for tax payers (like they did in the past).

However, will the people still have money to import new cars considering the forex rates and banks being more prudent about giving out loans ? Probably not. Only a few.

Should the government allow the importation of old cars ? Personally I say no (and this based on experience of what it used to be in SL and how it was abused)...perhaps extend the age limit up to about 5 years and that is it. Reason I say that is knowing our importers they are going to be purchasing all the 10 year old junk. Without a proper inspection system for registering and keeping cars road legal, this is opening up a can of ugly worms. Remember...this is going to allow cars like old Priuses needing new battery packs, etc that are available for about 2000USD to be imported (do you really trust our car sales guys to fix it properly ?). African countries, etc..are tightening the age restrictions and inspection requirements (not very successful in the latter) because they have had serious eco problems with Japanese cars getting dumped in their countries. In fact some of them have a dumping tax on cars older than a certain age. 

I also don't think the government should allow unlimited imports. We should take a lesson from countries like Singapore and only allow a limited number of personal vehicle imports per year (perhaps in each category and type for each category, Hybrid, EV, Gasoline, etc..). 

The question is....how many new cars does Sri Lanka need ? Partly the reason we got ourselves in to this mess is because we imported more than what we needed. Perhaps limit personal car imports and actually do something about allowing people to bring down commercial vehicles for public services. We need new school buses, or even proper private buses (not those trucks with a tin can...actual buses). So perhaps reduce taxes on those so that public transportation can be made better. Same with the tourism sector.

But the reality is...the common man will not be able to afford a new car (actually they haven't been able to for decades...most were buying cars on loan well above their income). This is going to be an opportunity for the rich to bring in new cars, and a chance for the parliamentarians to upgrade their SUVs and luxury sedans.