The Automobile Industry

[FK]

Pakistan is undergoing a dramatic change in its Automobile Industry, many new Companies are now planning to start operations in Pakistan, below are the list of Companies operating right now, and those who will be starting shortly;

[Toyota]

Toyota produces the Corolla, Hilux and the newly added Camry



[Diahatsu]

Diahatsu, with Toyota produces the compact Cuore



[Honda]

Honda's lineup includes the Civic and the City



[Suzuki]

Suzuki has a wide range of models, like the Alto, Cultus, Baleno, Mehran, Potohar, Ravi, Bolan and the soon-to-be introduced WagonR



[Hyundai]

Hyundai currently assembles the compact Santro and the Pickup/Loader Shehzore



[KIA]

Kia assembles the Hatchback-Sedan Spectra

[Chevrolet]

Chevy's production line includes the Exclusive and the sedan Optra



[BMW]

BMW's line includes the 3-Series, 7-Series and its SUV X5 Vehicle. It also deals with the MINI Cooper



[Mitsubishi]

Mitsubishi offer's the Lancer, Galant and Pajero



[Nissan]

It is soon to announce its production line, but it's expected that they will introduce the Sunny and the compact Micra



[Mercedes-Benz]

Soon to start operations, it is expected that they will introduce their Vehicles later this year



These are the Automobile Companies operating in Pakistan right now, if you would like to add some details you are more then welcome too!

[centralized pandemonium]

Does Maruti have a plant in Pakistan?

[cntower]

Any idea on what GM is planning for the market?

[FK]

GM will probably come along with WTO, Maruti does not have a plant over here but Mahindra&Mahindra are certainly planning!

[HasanB]

Im actually very interested in the cars that Mercedes will produce in Pakistan. THey say that they will produce one military type of vehicle and two consumer class models. I wonder what those 2 models are ... hopefully the S class and the CLK.

[FK]

Well according to the news article a week back, they will firstly introduce their production line of Trucks, Buses, Military Vehicles and then move on to its consumer class. They did'nt mention bringing only 2 models, expect half of its production line to be there.

[FK]

A few months back the Govt. introduced a more relaxed policy on Import of Automobiles, due to that Pakistan esp. Karachi has witnessed a growing number of cars on its roads. Some of the 'newer' brands to hit Karachi are;

[Mazda RX-8]



[Honda S2000



[Hummer]



[Toyota Vitz]



[Honda Accord]



[Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII]



-------

That's it for now, i'll be posting more Pics and Updates in the comming days ..

[HasanB]

Yeah i heard about the relaxation on import restrictions, however i think that they still do impose a hefty tax on the import of brand new cars. Thats why people buy new cars, keep it in another country for like 3 years then import it to Pakistan. Which i think is really crap and kinda destroys the whole experience of driving a brand new car.

[FK]

It actually varies according to the C.C Description, its actually much easier and cheaper to get a 1000C.C car here then a 1800C.C but in the end its not that much as we can see 1800C.C + cars roaming around!

[Aryan]

Evo's are being produced in Pak? Thats ace!

I still support placing tarriffs on foreign car manufacturers, and the import of 2nd hand cars. The revenue from these should be put into developing a state automobile firm, that starts of designing a cheap 1,000 cc design, and then later caters for a much larger market. To be honest, I can't see why it hasn't been done already...

[FK]

Evo's aren't being produced right now, their being imported.

I agree with you 100%, Pakistan after 57 years should have had its own small manufacturing Automobile Company, what they did with the Mehran .. like running it for what 10-20 years they could have developed a car similar to that under their own flagship.

We do have a coupe of Companies (Pakistani) that are producing Vehicles, but that's in partnership with China. Some of the companies are;

STAR AUTOMOBILES
ADAM MOTOR COMPANY
MASTER MOTOR CO.

They mainly deal in Loaders/Pickup's

[HasanB]

Ok heres the thing, the mentality of the Pakistani upper class is such that even if there was a Pakistani car on the market they will go for the foreign manufacturer. The only chance that a local manufacturer would have, would be to cater to the lower classes, whose income income is so low that they would not be able to afford it.

So unless we are to do a Nazi Germany style approach (Where they produced the peoples car Volkswagen for the masses and subsidised it for them or did they give it for free im not sure) then there is very limited hope for local manufacturers. Since whatever the quality of the car, foreign ones have a huge reputation.

[Aryan]

Originally Posted by HasanB

Ok heres the thing, the mentality of the Pakistani upper class is such that even if there was a Pakistani car on the market they will go for the foreign manufacturer. The only chance that a local manufacturer would have, would be to cater to the lower classes, whose income income is so low that they would not be able to afford it.

So unless we are to do a Nazi Germany style approach (Where they produced the peoples car Volkswagen for the masses and subsidised it for them or did they give it for free im not sure) then there is very limited hope for local manufacturers. Since whatever the quality of the car, foreign ones have a huge reputation.

you can't blame upper classes for wanting the best, its teh same as in any country really isn't it? If you earned the money to buy whatever car you wanted, you'd buy the most luxurious, and the most prestigeous. The richer people in Pakistan aren't a big enough market to justify the costs of developing a luxury car, and I don't think we've got the capability to do it right now.

The market we should be aiming for is the lower - middle class, urban citizens who are poor, but do have a fixed income through a tertiary or secondary field, and have enough disposable income to purchase a modest car thru installments. The cars should be aimed around the sub 100,000 Rs market, and should be diesel or CNG. I still don't see why some company can't just come along and come up with a cheap clone of a Japanese/European car, thats what companies like Hyundai and Daewoo started off doing, and what proton have been doing for the past few years.

There's a really big market for this, I'd say 3 or four local companies could live off the demand of the population..

Incidently has anyone heard any news on the sitara car? Are people actually buying it?

[cntower]

Volvo Begins Truck Production in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Liaquat Ali Jatoi, the federal minister for industries and production, Tuesday has invited Volvo Company to assemble cars and buses in Pakistan to get market share in the auto sector.

He said this while addressing launching ceremony of world’s renowned Volvo FM Truck of VPL Limited, a Swedish company here.

The minister inaugurated the FM truck on behalf of the Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujat Hussain due to his other important engagements. He said there is huge demand of cars and due to this the local car assemblers are not timely delivering the vehicles to the customers.

He said that the government would provide all assistance to the Volvo Company for assembling cars and buses in Pakistan and also stressed the need for transfer of technology.

In the past, Volvo implemented a comprehensive urban transport project in the city of Lahore, funded by Swedish government. Over the years, Volvo has also played an important role in the development of the road network in Pakistan, as Volvo dump trucks have been extensively used by both Pakistani and foreign companies working in this sector.

The Volvo FM truck will bring new technology standards and quality product at affordable price. It will be an important breakthrough in the construction industry and in the automobile sector.

It will play a very important role in the development of engineering sector of Pakistan by promoting and encouraging vendor industry in the private sector. Volvo FM truck will be a trendsetter in the production of commercial vehicles involving high level of technology and international standards, he maintained.

Mr Jatoi said greatest potential of Pakistan, after the textile sector, lies in the engineering sector and hoped that the introduction of FM truck launched by VPL Limited will help Pakistan’s transport sector to develop and achieve international standards, and inspire others to invest in this sector.

Kanooz Mohyuddin, managing director of VPL Limited, in his welcome address, asked the government to improve oil efficiency and make legislation for good vehicles on the road. He said the company would invest more in this sector.

Thomas Thurison, marketing manager of Volvo Swedish-Pakistan Company, said Volvo is a large producer of truck and buses in the world and have 130 markets. He asked the government to implement the EURO-3 standards in Pakistan.

Deputy chief of mission of Swedish embaasy in Pakistan also addressed on the occasion and said that the commercial relations between the two countries are expanding and Swedish investors are interested to invest in Pakistan. He said that Volvo has played a role in the road network in Pakistan and also helped in the environmental areas.

[MachuPichu]

Though importing does ensure some great cars on the road, dont you think you lose out on building a local manufacturing capability. For example, in india, the local component percentage in cars have to go from 60% in year 1 of production to 75% by year 3 of production. This will spawn a whole network of local suppliers. Today, India is used as a base to source autocomponents and even cars to other countries. This contributes a lot more to the economy than plainly importing cars, which would just benefit a few rich people. In any case, the cars in the picture are the latest models and look very nice. I wonder if a good trade agreement existed between India and Pakistan, Pakistanis could import the cars in your country (as policies would have been finetuned by now to have a good import rate) and sell it to the much larger Indian customer base (after all, India has the largest growing number of millionaires in the world and the largest number of millionaires in Asia excluding Japan). I think a South Asian FTA makes a lot of sense.

MP

[FK]

I agree with Hasan, even today most "Upper-Class" people wont buy a Mehran even if its the last car on earth ..

What we can do is produce both models, like Suzuki does .. with the Lower-class Mehran to the sorta Upper-Class Baleno.

The best we got by ourselves was that Golf-Cart thingy called the Sitara .. Now that was a cute machine! I guess its highest speed was 20KM/H?

[pakpak93]

ISLAMABAD: Three German companies have shown interest in investing in different sectors in Pakistan.

In a meeting with Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the minister for privatisation and investment, in Germany, the representatives of Siemens, Audi and Allianz companies, having stakes in electrical engineering, automobile and insurance assured the minister that they want to increase their investment in Pakistan, said a statement issued by the Privatisation Commission here Thursday.

Dr Shaikh, who is currently on a visit to Germany, leading a Pakistani delegation to the 11th Munich Management Colloquium, held meetings with the senior management of the German companies.

The minister invited the German companies to participate in the country’s privatisation programme, particularly in the upcoming utilities transactions and to avail the opportunities being offered in all sectors to enhance their investments in Pakistan.

In his meeting with Audi, one of the world’s producers of high quality cars the minister invited them to establish their operations in Pakistan with a view to create a regional hub for South Asia, Middle East and ECO countries, said the statement.

Siemens, while confirming their interest in telecommunication and power sectors, informed that they were keen in the acquisition of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) and Career Telephone Industries (CTI). Audi management informed the Minister that they were presently actively in the process of looking at expanding sales and assembly in Asian countries and for entering to Pakistan market.

[FK]

Audi!

Awesome news, I guess most of the companies will be there at Expo 05', which is going to be the Biggest Expo event in Pakistan ..

[pakpak93]

KARACHI: Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) has doubled the production of its vehicles in a period of two years due to the ever-increasing demand of cars in the country.

This was stated by the Managing Director, PSMC, Kenichi Ayukawa while talking to newsmen at the Geo Motor Show here at Karachi Expo Centre on Saturday.

Ayukawa said that his company would be producing 65,000 units by the end of the year 2004 as compared to 30,000 units in 2002. He said that with the completion of its expansion plan worth Rs2 billion, the company would further increase its production to the tune of 30 per cent over 2004.

He disclosed that PSMC would soon be introducing two new models - Suzuki Liana and Grand Vitara XL-7 - in the local market.

He said that Pak Suzuki has the lowest waiting period that ranges from 2-4 months depending on the model and version. He, however, said that his company was trying to maintain minimum waiting period through restricted booking.

He said that as the company is going to increase production by 30 per cent from next year, the premium problem would be overcome to a large extent and people may take a sigh of relief.

grand vitara




liana

[pakpak93]

World automobiles introduced two new cars in Pakistan.

Following models are available for customers in Pakistan.

BOTH CARZ R LICENSED BY MERCEDES BENZ.

REXTON ( SPORTS UTILITY VEHICLE )

RX-270 DIESEL MANUAL RS. 27,95,000/=
RX-270 DIESEL AUTOMATIC RS. 31,95,000/=
RX-270 DIESEL TOP OF THE LINE RS. 35,95,000/=
RX-320 PETROL TOP OF THE LINE RS. 33,95,000/=
COLOURS AVAILABLE : WHITE,SILVER,PRISM BLUE,GRAND PURPLE,BEIGE BLACK & WINE.





CHAIRMAN (LUXURY SEDAN)

CM400S GASOLINE AUTOMATIC RS. 38,75,000/=
CM500S GASOLINE AUTOMATIC RS. 43,75,000/=
CM600S GASOLINE AUTOMATIC RS. 53,75,000/=
CM600L GASOLINE AUTOMATIC LIMOUSINE(AWAITED)
COLOURS: CLASSIC BLACK,PERTNENT SILVER,CYGNUS KHAKI,GRAND WHITE,SILKY BEIGE