LAHORE, May 4: The first locally assembled high-end European jeep is expected to hit the Pakistan market by the middle of this year.

The government has already approved the deletion programme for the local assembly of Land Rover jeeps, a senior office-bearer of the Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories told this reporter here on Tuesday.

"The company is scheduled to start commercial production in the next couple of months or so. In fact the company has already delivered many locally assembled jeeps to the army," he said.

The European jeep maker would use the assembly line of Gandhara Nissan for the commercial production of its jeeps in Pakistan. It may be recalled that Nissan's assembly plant is lying idle as the company has already stopped producing cars.

Land Rover jeeps would be the first European automobiles to be assembled in Pakistan whose automobile market is dominated by the Japanese and Korean car makers. Industry sources say the "European maker of high-end jeeps has decided to start assembly of its jeeps in Pakistan because of the recent robust growth of the country's automobile industry."

Local car production is expected to cross 115,000 units a year very soon, says an All Pakistan Motors Association (APMA) report. It says car production during the first quarter of 2004 surged to 24,922 units and sales to 24,656 units.

As many as 8,633 cars were produced and 9,078 sold in January, 7,229 assembled and 6,840 sold in February and 9,060 manufactured and 8,738 sold in March. The figures show that the industry is closing the gap of unmet demand, say industry sources.

"In the second half of 2003, 43,706 cars (of different makes and models ranging from 800cc to 1600cc) were produced and 43,345 sold," the report says. The PAAPAM says the consistent government policy regarding the local automobile industry will help the car assemblers attain the target of 115,000 units a year very shortly.