After the government announced the lifting of import restrictions on automobiles, dealers have initiated the process of importing vehicles which stalled for the last eight months. While automobile dealers have continued their protest against high borrowing rates, they have also started opening letters of credit (LC) to import vehicles simultaneously. With the government announcing restrictions on vehicle import in April, imports of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles were halted for eight months. Leading automobile dealers say auto buyers have to wait for some time to ride new models as it will take 2-3 months to import vehicles after opening LCs at banks.

"By completing the process in around two months, new vehicles will be available in the market," said Dhruba Thapa, President of the NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal.

According to Sandip Sharma, Manager-Marketing and Communications of Laxmi Intercontinental, the authorized distributor of Hyundai vehicles in Nepal, the first model that will arrive in Nepal from Hyundai will be the facelift Hyundai Venue, a compact SUV. "The facelift model of Venue will arrive by early February," informed Sharma. The new version of Venue was launched in India in June of this year. According to Sharma, the opening of LC to import Venue facelift has started. The other SUV from Hyundai to be launched in the market will be the Creta facelift. "It could hit the Nepali market by next Dashain," he said. According to Sharma, there are no new Hyundai vehicles being imported to Nepal in the next six months. "The new model from Hyundai could be Casper, a 5-seater hatchback. But we have to wait for another 12 months for that," he said. CG Moto Corp, the sole distributor of Maruti Suzuki in Nepal, is bringing the new Alto, Grand Vitara, and Vitara Breeza facelift in the coming months. "Both Grand Vitara and Breeza facelift will hit the market by mid-January 2023," said Anup Baral, Managing Director of Narayani Auto, a dealer of CG MotoCorp. Life Automobile, the authorized distributor of Jeep in Nepal is all set to launch the new brand - Jeep Meridian - in the local market. According to Ramesh Danekhu, Manager-Marketing Communications at MAW Enterprises, they will also start bringing new Kodiaq and Kushaq. Auto dealers say despite import restrictions lifting, there is no excitement in the domestic automobile market as the liquidity crunch is still affecting the banking sector. The vehicles that would hit the market soon: Hyundai Venue Facelift Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara Vitara Breeza Facelift New Alto Jeep Meridian  Mahindra Scorpio