Automotive industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Pakistan. Our market is dominated by Japanese manufactured automobile, which have their assembly plant in Pakistan and they usually have co-owned with local partners. Import of used cars has drastically increased from 2015.
Majority of the imported car were compact, subcompact and SUV cars. The import of compact cars threatened local manufacture of small cars which launch two different models with a good sale in the local market. The government tried to impose the regularly duties on the purchase of imported automobile which largely failed. The imported cars are the biggest impediment to investment by new entrants and assemblers of cars.
Many foreign companies have setup their plant to assemble the car and partnered with a local distributor. This will benefit both the local manufacturers as well as the international automobiles company. It is possible that due to this set up imported cars stats can go down as major automobile brands are coming to Pakistan this year.
Local assemblers have seen a climb in sales which promises a good start. The buying power has increased in the past few years, be it private owners of the car or the purchase of car for cab hailing services. As they have made a serious mark on the automobile industry.
Japanese cars have always been on top of their game, but now many international automobiles companies are assembling car locally which will have an impact on the Japanese cars as they will have competitors other than the local manufacturers. The local car manufactures are seeing this as a major challenge and they have to up their game as the localization of the international cars is somewhat threatening for them. Not only that but they have to meet the standards of the assembled cars. 2018 is going to be an exciting year for the automobile industry for both local market and the international market. Both have geared up to introduce various new cars to the market.