LAHORE: The Secretary Ministry of Industries Shafqat Naghmi has invited the local auto industry, next week, to separately discuss the issue of the import of used cars.
Naghmi took the decision after the association of local car manufacturers and auto vendors lodged protests against the government for not taking them into confidence as they did with the All Pakistan Motor Dealers Association (APMDA).
Since, both the Pakistan Automobile Manufacturers Association (Pama) and the Pakistan Association of Auto Parts and Accessories Manufacturers Association (Paapam) refused to sit with the APDMA in the meeting scheduled for September 13, 2012, saying that the APDMA is a trade body not a manufacturer, thus the secretary has invited them for a separate meeting next week.
The APDMA, however, met Naghmi and apprised him on the potential which used cars posses in Pakistan. They asked for a further lenient import policy and revising the depreciation limit of imports to 10 years.
Earlier, in separate letters to the ministry, both the Pama and Paapam questioned the wisdom of a trade body indulged in imports as the ministry should serve the interests of the local manufacturers.
Paapam Chairman Nabeel Hashmi said that the APDMA is not registered with the Directorate General of Trade Organisations (DGTO) as a representative body of traders. Hashmi said that most of the 80,000 cars that entered the Pakistani market in the last two years were shipped from Japan where the total number of Pakistanis residing is only 10,000.
“No importer in Pakistan is allowed to import used cars commercially. This facility is only available to overseas Pakistanis through transfer of resident and gift scheme,” he said. It is worth mentioning the local auto Industry has seen its worst two months in terms of sales and it has lead to suspension of production by local industry. Also, it is estimated that 55,000 used vehicles have been imported in the previous year.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2012.
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its very simple, local manufactureres just lower the price tag and improve the quality; and no one will go for USED imported cars.
The local auto manufacturers is not an industry, its a cartel selling extremely low quality products at ridiculously high prices. They should be banned altogether unless they improve their act.