KARACHI, July 21: A ship carrying around 100 units of American origin Chevrolet models (800cc), assembled in Korea, arrived at the port on Sunday, thus making a total arrival of 200 Chevy units in the last one month.

Chief Operating Officer of Continental Assemblers Private Limited Saeed-ur-Rahman told Dawn that the company intended to continue imports of 100 units every month and the quantity of imports may rise, depending on the demand.

“We have already filed bill of entry on Monday at the Collectorate for clearance of the vehicles in a day or two,” he added.

He said out of arrival of 100 new cars, 50 to 60 units had been reserved for sale in the upcountry, while the rest would be sold in Karachi. The same pattern of sale had been adopted in the arrival of 100 cars last month.

“It is a test launch for Chevrolet Exclusive and if it is successful, there are plans to begin assembly of the car within 18 months or early 2005,” Saeed said, adding “an understanding has already been developed with Ghandhara Nissan to roll out the vehicles in Pakistan.”

Imported Chevy cars, namely Exclusive, are being sold at Rs575,000 and Rs600,000 for standard and fully-loaded models respectively. The cars are being imported at the rate of 75 per cent import duty besides paying 15 per cent sales tax and other levies.

He said the company was now facing problems in selling cars in Lahore as the Excise and Taxation Department was creating problems in registration. However, sales in Karachi and Islamabad were running swiftly.

He said the company had also faced some problems from some leading leasing companies who offered excuse for its auto financing because of being engaged in leasing of locally assembled cars. The company, he added, had made arrangements with other leasing companies.

Saeed said the new car was expected to grab three to four per cent market share by giving tough competition to Dewan’s Santro and Suzuki’s Alto 1,000cc.

An analyst at Taurus Securities recalled that this was not the first time that cars have been imported to compete against the local makers. Small sized Peugeots (France) were imported in early 1992 followed by Kia Pride (Korea) in the mid 1990s. In the past, these cars had not made any lasting impact on the local car market.

In case the import of 200-300 Chevy vehicles is taken as an experiment, it will be a minor dent in the sales of Dewan and Pak Suzuki.

The ship that arrived with 100 Chevys on Sunday was also carrying extra 200 units including some vehicles for Pakistan Army and above over 1,800cc new and old jeeps, Honda Accords and Mercedes vans.

Import of above 1,800cc vehicles are expected to rise slightly in this fiscal year following cut in import duty on vehicles.