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Business Times - 23 Jul 2008 Sales of grey imports continue to surge Nissan is now a key parallel import brand due to the iconic GT-R model By SAMUEL EE PARALLEL imports continued to power ahead in the first six months of this year, with 11,860 units registered, or 23.5 per cent of the 50,549 new cars registered in Singapore during that period - up from 2007's 20.9 per cent market share. The parallel import (PI) figure for the first half is contrasted against that of the 36,891 units by the Motor Traders Association of Singapore (MTA). MTA is a grouping of authorised distributors, although not all such distributors here are members. The ratio of PI to MTA sales is about 1:3 - the same as in Q1. This means that for every car sold by a parallel importer, three were sold by MTA members. Last year's ratio was 1:4. In the grey market, Honda currently holds sway, unlike Toyota in the authorised realm. Honda, Japan's No. 2 car maker, accounts for 46.9 per cent of all new parallel imports sold between January and June 2008, while Toyota, the world's biggest car maker, makes up 41.1 per cent. Together, Honda and Toyota constitute 88 per cent of all first-half parallel imports. The pace of Q2 sales has not slowed down compared with Q1. In fact, Q2's volume is slightly higher than Q1's. One interesting feature of H1 2008 is that the Nissan brand is suddenly a PI favourite with 145 units sold during this period, compared with just 27 grey imports for the whole of 2007. This is mainly due to the overwhelming popularity of the high-performance Nissan GT-R sports car (88 units in H1 2008) and the compact Dualis SUV (37 units). The first GT-R arrived here in January as a grey import and it will only be available from authorised Nissan distributor Tan Chong Motor Sales sometime in the second quarter of 2009. The four Japanese brands combined - Honda, Toyota, Suzuki and Nissan - account for a whopping 94.4 per cent of all PI year-to-date sales. Among PI models, the most popular is the Honda Fit with 2,058 units. This diminutive five-door hatchback arrived here last November while the Jazz, the export version from authorised distributor Kah Motor, will only be ready for registration nearer year-end. The Stream compact MPV is No. 2 with 1,865 units, while No. 3 is the domestic Japanese version of the ever popular Toyota Corolla, called the Axio (1,406 units). Also noteworthy is the number of Mercedes-Benz cars - 142 units in the first six months versus 236 for 2007 - a fact that can be attributed largely to the new C-Class model (43.7 per cent of total Merc registrations).