October 17, 2002	Thursday	Sha'aban 10, 1423

KARACHI, Oct 16: Dewan Farooque Motors Limited (DFML) on Wednesday unveiled all new Hyundai Santro 1000cc EFI car with an ex-factory price tag of Rs499,000, up by Rs20,000 as compared to its previous model.

Talking to newsmen at the launching of the new model at a local hotel, managing director of Dewan Mushtaq Group and DFML, Dewan Mohammad Yousuf Farooque, said the price had been increased due to introduction of new features and designs. “We had to invest Rs100 million more for the launching of the new model,” he added.

He said the company had rolled out more than 6,000 models of previous Santro model in the last two-and-a-half years. The car enjoys a market share of 23 per cent and deletion level, achieved so far, is 55 per cent.

Earlier, in his address of welcome, he said the arrival of leasing companies and banks in car financing has boosted up sales of cars as the share of car sales through these two mode of financing has touched to over 50 per cent in total car sales as compared to 20 per cent one-and-a-half years back. As a result of car financing schemes, car market has seen a growth of four per cent.

He said the company has brought about a healthy competition in the market which had been previously dominated by Japanese car makers. Since the inception of DFML in 1998, the company has introduced six new products in every segment of the market. All cars are also available in CNG and petrol options.