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KARACHI: A leading Chinese bike maker is gearing up to launch an 800cc car next year, a company official confirmed on Thursday.
Its launch will be followed by the end of the 30-year journey of iconic 800cc Suzuki Mehran in 2019.
United Auto Industries is venturing into car and pickup manufacturing, United Motors General Manager Muhammad Afzal told Dawn from Lahore.
He said the company will use Chinese technology and market its vehicles under the brand name of United. “The local assembly of these vehicles will begin in the first half of 2018,” he said.
The market is abuzz with reports that United is introducing Mehran and Ravi lookalikes with minor design variations to avoid copyright litigation.
“Our car and pickup are not the copy of Suzuki brands. Our vehicles are totally different and loaded with various attractive features and safety standards,” Mr Afzal said.
As for the pricing, he said the company intends to keep it “very affordable”. The official did not give any details about the company’s investment in the greenfield project, level of localisation, plant capacity and monthly production number.
In June, the government allowed United Motors, KIA-Lucky Motors and Hyundai Nishat Motor to set up greenfield projects under the new auto policy. These companies were promised special incentives by way of reduced customs duties on the import of completely knocked-down kits for local assembly.
Pak Suzuki plans to discontinue Mehran and introduce the next-generation 660cc Alto in March 2019. Alto will have a price tag of Rs850,000-900,000 for the basic variant.
Mehran, Ravi and Bolan, which belong to the 800cc category, constitute the largest auto segment with combined sales of approximately 8,000 vehicles per month.
Pak Suzuki has so far dominated this segment as vehicles produced by recent entrant Al-Haj FAW cost around Rs100,000 more than Ravi and Bolan.
Vendors of Japanese cars said it remains to be seen if United will make a dent in Pak Suzuki’s market share. Since 1989, Mehran has been the car of choice for customers as it helped them shift from motorcycles to four-wheelers.
Mehran’s affordable price, low-cost parts and after-sales network attract the middle class that cannot afford more expensive local or imported vehicles.
According to vendors, Chinese motorcycles were first rolled out in 2005 at prices that were 40 per cent lower than those of Japanese bikes. As a result, customers went wild for Chinese two-wheelers, which now control up to 60pc market share.
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2017
Comments (50) Closed
Must consider automatic version too, for ladies drivers.
The Japanese auto makers are losing sleep and sweating on the announcement of a Chinese car hitting the Pakistani market. Some of them have to shut down their plants because they won't be able to compete with the Chinese car on price and quality.
Suzuki is king of small cars in the region. One can blindly buy it for the ease of finding service centers, also for the competitiveness of spare parts cost
Chinese bike maker making cars for Pakistanis. Great going. Can anybody tell me what exactly Pakistan manufacture in its own country?
But the world is moving to battery operate EVs.
Mehran with 800cc engine having price tag less than alto with 660cc engine is far more better option.
@Sukhera Japanese car are known for their service and for giving competition to German leading automobile
Chinese bike maker is gearing up to launch an 800cc car ..that says all !
indeed, the manufacturing of credible new cars is absolutely required in this critical situation, where paucity of automobiles is emerging seriously in Pakistan. However, the prices have always been a legitimate concern for masses, if you see in other, especially developed countries, almost for every family minimum one car is present this is because Government facilitates to buy rather, as in Pakistan, Government imposes hefty taxes and curtails the dreams of many purchasers.
@Sukhera
Agreed on price issue, but quality, that's hilarious.
Good news
I love you China but I like JDM Honda and Daitsu Kei cars. I hope China does a good job so I can change my mind and purchase them too to contribute to SinoPak economy.
SinoPak Iron Brothers 4 Life!
@murlidhar nair Use google and you will find everything from footballs and agriculture to textile and defence related equipments.
Dont you think 660cc is too less power. with 4 decent size guys, it will be as good as a bullock cart.
And bike maker is going to make cars and also promises to give lots of features. Oh yes, sure.
We must warm welcome these investors to encourage them.
@Sukhera "compete with the Chinese car on price and quality" Compete with price makes sense, but quality? chinese against Japanese? nice try
At what price?
Their only chance of success is when they decide to sell it at substantially lower price than their Japanese counterparts.
660 cc Alto for about 8,000 to 9,000 US$ and that too assembled in Pakistan makes no sense.
These car makers are filling their pockets at the cost of common man in developing countries.
An affordable people's car with quality and safety features is the need of the hour.
Useless venture won't be profit Pakistani consumers. N league cannot think big and partner with big companies. They have scooted away VW 2 times.
@murlidhar nair why are you so concerned about Pakistan if you have nothing to do with with Pakistan???
@Sukhera Price ok, but quality? Are you joking?
Is there any other name in Pakistan other than China?
@leena but ladies can drive gear vehicles right?
the world has stopped production of cars less than 1ltr but we are happy to announce 0.8ltr hmm
@Yousuf Brother - I just asked a simple question, because every time I read I read only about China, nothing about Pakistan. China making buses, railways, airport, sea port, bridges, roads for Pakistan. So was wondering is there anything that Pakistan makes on its own. Brother please wake up, tell your leaders to give job to your educated class and make things of your own. We Indians want Pakistan to grow and prosper so that it has no time to meddle in to other activities.
@murlidhar nair none of your business, whatever we do manufacturer is the best in the world
MADE IN CHINA!!! ALL THE BEST!!!
@Sukhera Japanese quality verses Chinese quality !!!!!!
@Bhopal .Mercedes car has the worst performance record on quality. My Mercedes C300 which I purcuased brand new with a hefty price tag of $40,000. Now it has 88,000 miles. It's at the mechanic shop every other week. So far I have replaced the belt two times, belt tensioner, water pump, fuel vacuum pump and idle pulleys. Now there is a problem with Mass airflow sensor which cost around $500 just for the part. It ran fine upto 50,000 miles and as soon as the warranty expired, the hell broke loose. The general consensus about Mercedes cars is not good and it has depreciated in value quicker than the Detroit built cars. On the other hand, Honda cars are trouble free for a long time and they are never on sale or zero percent financing like other brands. Improving the quality of the parts is a constant struggle and the companies have to keep improving the quality of the parts if they want to stay in the game. Honda wants to keep its good reputation and is working hard to keep it
Its sad Pakistan still has lot of 80p and 600 cc cars.
Another Junk car. I do not know why Gov take out 100% tax on sale of cars that would allow quality, safe cars to enter market.
Just hope that they don’t fit 4 wheels on a bike to make a sale.
@akmal yeah sure, thats why exports are down from $25 bn to $19 bn.
A wise decision of assembly and progressive manufacturing of Chinese cars compatible with popular Mehran and others from Suzuki
With the 660 cc cars coming from Japan in reconditioned form, it is strange that no car maker has thought about making the same in. Pakistan yet. Any one who takes the initiative to do so shall be rewarded by its sales volume in the coming years.
Mehran a dead body on the roads. We need new cost and fuel efficient cars
@Sukhera agree with price but not qquality! any japanese product is ssuperor to chinese!
Beware of Chinese quality...everything they make is copied and reverse engineered...It can never match the original....and there is always some catch...Pakistan should strive to be self reliant and not put all its eggs in the Chinese badket
@Sukhera I think one must have some background knowledge before jumping into the subject. Japanese don’t care the Pak market in auto sector they have a big international market. Toyota alone makes 10 million cars per year for Japanese markets only while having just 16 plants in japan.
@gknatarajan .Thirty years ago Japanese cars were not of good quality and never started in th cold weather in US. Couple years they eliminated these issues. Chinese quality has improved a lot in recent years. Please look at the JD powers reports which were issued recently.
For the foreseen manifolds increase in number of cars, Pakistan's intra city and inter city road network needs to be improved, since the mushrooming of chinese bikes, there is a lot rush and jam in big as well as small cities and towns. The existing road networks will not cater to the future vehicle traffic.
@Philosopher (from Japan) If Toyota is such a great car, why they are offiring zero down, zero interest financing for 6 years and thousands of dollars discount from MRSP. If you doing so great in Japan what you doing in other countries?
@QPN I have seen 4 adults riding a 100 cc bike just yesterday. So, 660 cc may be able to do the trick as long. The current 800 cc car struggles to climb steep bridges with the AC on though !!!
@Suleiman quadir not, may be fue to gear stick u know;
Simply more cars in the countries does not seem to be all the progress. The basic necessities must be considered first to be fulfilled in a cheap manner for everyone to afford.
The prices are ridiculously high. We have everything unplanned without any codes and safety measures. Number of cars increasing exponentially and so do the accidents. People getting licenses without any training. Only this year 4 ppl died in different accidents who I knew personally. I heard from other ppl they knew some body who died in accidents this year. Do we have any statistics for these things or any plans are in place to deal with these things.
@Sukhera But please do consider original and china.
Government should focus and encourage companies for Electric vehicles in order to reduce pollution in big cities in particular
excellent news for Pakistan-China friendship.
Try Mahindra and Tata.