ISLAMABAD, Sept 22: Four automobile companies manufacturing vehicles locally came under fire in the National Assembly for increasing the prices of their products by two to 18 per cent.

It was pointed out that some faults were reportedly developed in the newly manufactured vehicles and the sudden increase in the prices of the new models was criticized.

In a written question, MNA Farid Ahmed Paracha asked the minister for industries and production to inform the House about a comparison of prices of Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Honda City, Suzuki all models, Coure, Kia and Hyundai cars in Jan 2000 and July 2003.

Replying to the query, the parliamentary secretary of the ministry, Syed Javed Ali Shah, said the prices of cars had been increased due to improvement in their models, new shapes, extra facilities and enhanced features.

In a supplementary question, MNA Dr Sher Afghan said whether the car manufacturer companies had taken prior approval from the government to revise the prices.

He asked the parliamentary secretary to apprise the House about new changes and modifications provided in the new models.

Dr Afghan, who had lost his son in a car acciden, quoted several accidents that took place due to failure of brakes.

The parliamentary secretary was also asked that the prices of locally manufactured cars were higher in the country as compared to the prices of the same vehicles in neighbouring countries.

The parliamentary secretary said a task force had been formed to find out the reasons of revision of the prices.