KARACHI: Local assemblers have kept their production plans intact till September despite fears of losing 50-60 per cent non-filers as their main customers of cars and light commercial vehicles from July 1.

All assemblers have already requested customers to change their status to tax filers to avoid any possible delivery delays or cancellation of vehicles orders. Many non-filers who have booked vehicles are expecting delivery after June 30, 2018. The government has barred non filers from purchasing locally assembled cars from July 1, 2018.

Three leading Japanese car assemblers have already stopped booking of vehicles from all ‘non-filers’ including individuals and corporate customers from last week of May.

“The schedule of procuring parts and accessories by the three assemblers has not showed any sign of drop. Assemblers’ production plans till September are more or less same so far as per parts procurement schedule received by the vendors,” Senior Vice Chairman PAAPAM Mohammad Ashraf Shaikh told Dawn on Wednesday.

According to vendors, around 4,300 Toyota Corolla would be produced in June followed by 5,700 units in July, 4,600 in August and 5,100 in September.

Giving another example, they said Honda Atlas Cars Limited (HACL) would make 1,500 Honda City in June followed by 2,700 units in July, 2,000 units in August and 1,900 units in September.

A total of 1,400 units of Honda Civic would be assembled in June while the company would roll out 1,900 units in July, 1,300 units in August and 1,900 units in September.

Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMCL) would assemble 3,200 units of Suzuki Mehran in June followed by 4,800 in July and 4,000 units in August.

Suzuki pickup production in June is estimated at 1,400 units while 2,000 units and 1,700 units would be produced in July and August respectively.

Spokesman of Indus Motor Company (IMC) said, “So far there is no change in production plan as the company has to clear pending orders in July and August.”

“The industry has asked the government to exempt those orders of non filers which were booked prior to decision so that vehicles could be easily delivered in July-August 2018,” he added.

Assemblers have also lined up imports of parts and accessories on schedule which is evident from rising trend in import of completely- and semi-knocked down kits (CKD/SKD).

The import of CKD/SKD rose to $655 million in July-April 2017-2018 from $532m in same period last fiscal.

The local industry maintains at least 10 days of CKD/SKD stocks in hand.

Sources said Toyota and Suzuki may face higher sales hit as their main buyers belong to rural areas where majority of them are non filers.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2018