KARACHI, Oct 3: Chinese trucks are set to replace the popular Japanese brand Mazda T-3500 trucks on the roads in Karachi and other parts of the country from next year as the Mazda Motor Corporation of Japan has expressed its inability to supply the T-3500 chassis beyond March 2003 due to some corporate compulsion.

Sind Engineering Limited (SEL) is acquiring franchise and technical assistance from Dong Feng Motor Corporation (DFML) of China for the assembly of 1.5 tons, 3.9 tons and 15 tons payload commercial vehicles fitted with world famous Cummins engine thus replacing Mazda T-3500 trucks, a senior official in SEL said.

The agreement between SEL and Dong Feng is expected to be signed during this month. During the first half of the calendar year 2003, SEL’s facilities (to undertake assembly of Dong Feng products), will be revamped and regular production and sales of Chinese vehicle will begin from July 2003, the official said.

After one year of Chinese company’s operation at SEL, the Sindh Engineering will be converted into a joint venture company with Pakistan Automobile Corporation Limited (PACO) and Dong Feng Motor Corporation as partners and Dong Feng taking over the management of the proposed joint venture company, he added.

The official said that on October 2, Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood, while reviewing the performance and activities at SEL, has instructed the SEL management to speed up completion of all formalities with the Chinese company so that vehicles are assembled and sold in Pakistan by latest July 2003.

The DFML is a well-known name in automobile industry of China, producing 250,000 vehicles per annum. The company has joint venture/under licence arrangements with manufacturers like Cummins and Citroen. Recently Nissan of Japan has agreed to associate itself with Dong Feng forming another joint venture company in which Nissan is investing one billion dollars.

SEL has the distinction of only profitable company in public sector all through the last three decades contributing huge dividends to the government exchequer. Its plant has the installed capacity of 3,000 vehicles per year per shift but currently the company is producing 2,500 vehicles per year.

Mazda T-3500 series had achieved the deletion level of 49.26 per cent involving 396 parts manufactured by 83 vendors. As many as 391 people are employed in the company.

SEL, under administrative control of Federal Industry and Production Ministry, was incorporated in 1963 as an engineering based industry under the title of Wazir Ali Engineering. It was nationalized in 1972 under the economic reforms orders and renamed as Sind Engineering Limited (SEL).

Chinese auto makers are fast making their presence felt in the Pakistani markets both in heavy vehicles and motorcycle segments. In March this year, a 1.5 ton capacity 2600cc Chinese truck named Zabardast was launched by Adam Motor Company, a sister concern of Omar Jibran Engineering Industries Limited, in collaboration with Jiangsu Mudan Automobile Group Company of China.