KARACHI, Jan 11: Chairman, Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (Pama), Pervez Ghias, has said that car sales will remain depressed till June in view of unsold stocks of used cars in the market.

“Elections do not hold any importance as far as car sales are concerned,” he told a press conference at Pakistan Auto Parts Show-2013, organised by Pakistan Automotive Parts Accessories Manufacturers (Paapam), at the Expo Centre from Jan 11-13.He said that sales had slightly improved in January 2013 after suffering 30pc fall in July-December 2012 but it cannot be termed normal sales.

However, he ruled out the possibility that general elections would hit future sales. “We will also invest this year,” he added.

He said that long-term policies would encourage a significant segment of Paapam members not only to invest to fulfill the demand of local market, but also to penetrate in foreign markets, like Middle East, Central Asia and Africa,” Ghias said, urging the government to formulate investment-friendly plans to lure foreign and local investment to further expand automobile and vending industry.

The Pama chief said that the abrupt change in government policies to relax import of used cars had devastated growth of overall automobile industry as severe repercussions were seen in terms of steep drop in sales and production of assemblers and vendors, hence closure of small and medium sized business units were reported along with retrenchment of thousands of skilled workers.

The government must learn a lesson about its inconsistent and ill-planned move that not only restricted growth of local automobile industry, but pushed them many years back in terms of production in tandem with low sales, he added.

On used cars, he said that used cars are not suitable for Pakistani roads as their suspension was not designed for rough roads.

He reckoned that these used cars had definitely good safety features and emission standards. However, he added the government had never taken serious measures on safety standards in locally produced cars but local car assemblers were trying to provide some safety measures on their own.

Ghias said that the industry had urged refineries to speed up efforts for producing Euro-II compliant diesel vehicles.

Paapam chairman Munir Bana recalled that used cars imports were opened every time when the local industry and their vendors had achieved good volumes.

Industries badly need volumes of 500,000 units every year which would definitely encourage vendors and industry to invest more and achieve higher localisation of parts in vehicles.

He said local vendors had faced tough period after demand of their products declined due to influx of used imported cars.

Though the industry is passing through a critical phase due to low production and sales volumes of local cars, local vendors, along with assemblers, are working together to launch three to four new models of cars through handsome investment, human capital and advancement in technology.

The Paapam chief urged that the government to ensure true implementation of its recent policy to limit used cars by three years from five and give confidence to vendors through Auto Industry Development Plan (AIDP-II) to enhance their participation in economic and engineering activities of automobile industry.