New import rule needs 2 airbags, ABS and ESC to register a car — good call or killing the budget end?

Vehicles brought in from this year are reportedly being held to a minimum safety bar at registration: at least two airbags, ABS, and electronic stability control, with fuel vehicles also expected to meet Euro 6 emissions. No sign-off, no RMV registration, full stop. For a market where a huge chunk of buyers are stretching to find Rs 2-3 million for anything roadworthy, this quietly erases a whole tier of cheap Alto/Maruti-class recon and used imports that never had ESC fitted. Supporters say Sri Lanka's roads are brutal and we've spent years registering cars with zero passive safety just to save money — this forces a baseline everyone else moved to a decade ago. Critics say it's safety theatre dressed as policy: a rich man's SUV and a poor family's first car get the same rule, but only one of them can absorb the price jump, so the real effect is pushing low-income buyers toward older, unregulated, unregistered vehicles instead. If you've tried to register or import recently, did this actually bite you, and what did it do to the price of the car you were eyeing? අඩු මිලේ රථ ගන්න හිටපු අය මේකෙන් පැත්තකට විසි වෙයිද?