The dominating auto manufacturers, which made their presence known in Pakistan’s market for decades have pushed the government not to give the green signals to fresh players who are willing to deploy plants as a green field investment under the incentives provided by the new auto policy.
This step on the part of current auto manufacturers is in line with the trendy belief that they are trying to place obstacles in the way of new aspirants into the auto market.
Back in 2017, the government unveiled the new auto policy to break the domination of three players, which were using outdated machinery and setting higher costs for their vehicles.
Despite these, they were also condemned for obstructing the delivery of ordered cars to get a premium from the clients for an early handover of automobiles.
Executives of the Ministry of Industries and Production were present at a meeting on Tuesday with the possible new entrants who were willing to invest in Pakistan’s automobile sector and introduce fresh brands.
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According to the officials, the new players disclosed during the meeting that they possessed import quality machinery for setting up car assembly plants, but the Engineering Development Board (EDB) was the reason behind the delay in the processing of their cases.
The executives stated the local auto manufacturers had placed an argument before the EDB that they were already producing the cars that the new players intended to manufacture and it was merely a clash of interests, which would cause further delay in the setup process of new plants.
The ministry, nonetheless, promised the new players that their issues would be dealt with.
Delegates of Kia Motors, Foton JW Auto Park, Habib Aneeq Private Limited, Hyundai Motor, Khalid Mushtaq Motors, Gulya Motors, Pak-China Motors, Eagle Automobiles, Lucky and United Auto Motors were present at the meeting.
In the middle of the aspiring players, Volkswagen is in final phases with Premier Systems Private Limited – the approved importer of Audi vehicles in Pakistan– to put together a manufacturing/assembly plant for its Amarok and T6 variations. French Renault and South Korea-based Hyundai and Kia have also said that they will soon start assembly of vehicles in Pakistan, in partnership with local companies.
This Tuesday, The Secretary of Ministry of Industries and Production, Khizar Hayat Gondal and secretary of Board of Investment (BoI) Azhar Ali Choudhary, co-managed a meeting of potential investors with the EDB chief executive officer under the Automotive Development Policy (ADP) 2016-21 at the Ministry of Industries.
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