The new Aston Martin Vanquish has been on sale for a while and like always, the convertible version called ‘Volante’ was expected to arrive soon and just as summer approached in the west, Aston Martin revealed the Vanquish Volante for everyone to enjoy the summers.

And they are not limited to small journeys, this is a proper GT car which means you can take it on long drives. Aston Martin themselves say that this is the “ultimate convertible super GT”.

It is the first convertible from Aston Martin to feature a full carbon-fiber body. Vanquish Volante is powered by a naturally-aspirated 6.0-liter V12 engine that’s good for 565 HP (573 PS) and 620 Nm (457 lb-ft) of torque. All that muscle is sent to the rear wheels via a Touchtronic 2 six-speed automatic transmission.

Speaking to the media, Aston Martin CEO, Dr. Ulrich Bez said that this car is what luxury super GT driving is all about. Great performance, fantastic style and exhilarating Volante motoring in one superb package. Aston Martin is celebrating 100 years of excellence in 2013, and the arrival of this new sports car – our ultimate Volante – underlines that our mission to make the next 100 years even more successful is starting perfectly.

At a price of 297,000 US $, anyone who is going to buy will get a bit more then that we suppose.

The post Pics: 2014 Aston Martin vanquish revealed appeared first on PakWheels Blog.

The scheme was met with mixed responses as many believed that the scheme was launched for the influential who had illegal vehicles, and through the scheme, legalize those vehicles. But there were those as well who were due to lack options and unable to import the cars of their choice such as vintage and classic cars moved in to import through this scheme.

However, declaring the scheme illegal, the Islamabad High Court has ordered the Federal Board of Revenue to impound 50,000 cars that were legalized through the scheme and put them up for auction after impounding them.

FBR has reiterated that the scheme was of national interest.

This decision may also have an impact on Hybrid cars as government has announced a scheme where in people can import Hybrids on discounted duty terms.

The post Vehicle Amnesty Scheme Declared Illegal – 50,000 Cars to be Seized appeared first on PakWheels Blog.

The Honda Accord that was launched just yesterday is a tremendous car, it has won awards and praise from anyone that has driven it, in its own category of course. However here in Pakistan, it is so expensive that it’s existence is rendered completely pointless. But Honda Atlas isn’t to be blamed for the exorbitant price, the government charges an unbelievable 4,529,081 rupees on the car as duty and couple that with a sinking rupee against Japanese yen and U.S. dollar, the price is way beyond comprehension.

On the other hand, U.S. only charges 2.5% duty on cars, while trucks are charged at 25% and motorcycles at 2.5% or free as well.

You may argue that U.S. is a developed economy and so on but, they have allowed competition and volume, and consumers the protection of many many options to choose from. They could limit their country with only three cars like us and ask millions as duty on it but that would limit economic progression.

If they introduce a similar duty structure like ours, almost all the manufacturers would have to shut shop as people will no longer be able to afford cars and millions of jobs would be lost.

With such a stupid duty structure, no automaker wants to come in Pakistan. The duty structure renders their cars pointless and limits the number of buyers they could have.

Automakers around the world are attracted by volume, they set up plants and become part of an economy if the market is capable to offer impressive volumes.

Today, we only have three auto assemblers who don’t even completely assemble the cars locally and yet they have created thousands of jobs and generate a lot of revenue for the government. Imagine what could ten or twenty or thirty automakers would do? But with this type of duty structure, it isn’t possible.

We are not suggesting reducing duties on imported cars, that is a sector that should be limited and instead, automakers should be welcomed in the country with less then 10% duty on cars they produce here.

While speaking with Dawn, Ali Habib, Chairman of Indus Motors said that a hybrid car can cost $20,000 and the fuel saving it gives is about 800 $, “The revenue loss and the forex drain implied by the scheme is far larger than any savings that might come. So I don’t get what the intended outcome is.”

As per the duty structure that is attached below, duty to be paid on a normal petrol 1000cc car is 514,140 rupees with 5% depreciation while it is zero on a 1000cc hybrid.

Duty on a 1300cc car with 5% depreciation is 1,028,280 rupees and only 514,140 rupees on a 1300cc hybrid whereas the duty on 1500cc car is 1,439,592 rupees and 719,796 on a 1500cc hybrid.

Duty on a 1800cc car with 5% depreciation is 2,159,388 rupees and 1,079,694 rupees on a 1800cc hybrid.

There are almost none reputable 1000cc and 1300cc hybrids while there are few 1500cc hybrids and the most popular, Toyota Prius Hybrid is a 1800cc car and duty on that is just massive.

Click on the images to enlarge:

If we could learn a lesson or two from other countries, or even businesses, we could offer automakers less then 10% duty on the cars they make here and earn revenue from countless other sources that would be created from their operations.

Joint-ventures, transfer of technology, like China has done that all automakers can produce vehicles with joining hands with a local company and must transfer technology by creating new local sub-brands can give us massive edge creating jobs, revenue and many other industries and what not.

I am no economic expert but this is how United States is able to finance the largest defense budget in the world, but only if we want to expand our perspective from short-term to long-term.

Your feedback is important, do let us know what you think and if you have any more ideas.

The post What’s the duty on your car and who is responsible for the high prices appeared first on PakWheels Blog.

Nevertheless, the model we have in Pakistan has been revised two times and already, it has become redundant in Europe and therefore, a new Suzuki Swift with some amount facelift was being expected.

And a facelift expected was facelift given as the Suzuki Belgium’s website have posted the photos of the new Suzuki Swift.

Suzuki had to declare bankruptcy in US, while Suzuki’s Chinese ambitions aren’t looking that great either so the market isn’t great for Suzuki and money is tight, so massive facelift wasn’t a possibility.

The biggest change given is that the car gains LED daytime running lights positioned in an L shape at the bottom of the bumper, right next to the fog lights. Other changes include small revisions to the front bumper, grille and mirrors.

The engine are the same 1.2 liter or 1.3 liter built by Fiat.

We’ve often seen the European Suzuki Swift often on the roads of Karachi, most probably imported, but when will the Pak Suzuki introduce a facelift is a mystery.

The post Suzuki Swift facelift for Europe leaked online appeared first on PakWheels Blog.

Honda Accord is a mid-range sedan competing directly with the Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata but in Pakistan, it is considered to be of stature that BMW and Mercedes have in other more developed parts of the world.

The Accord here has a 2.4 liter engine which produces 175 BHP and 225 torques while equipment such as Honda’s lane watch, LED lights, and cruise control comes as standard.

Honda Atlas always has prices of its cars written in the specification section of details of the car, but with the new Accord, it has refrained from sharing it presumably because of the reason it will cost way more then Honda had originally intended for.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) had revealed its Top Safety Picks, in which many cars were tested for safety and few made it to the final picks and the new Honda Accord was one of them.

Awards and accolades don’t end over there for the new Accord as Consumer Reports of America, had denied the sort of prestige it has given to previous older models, to the last model which the new Accord have superseded however, the love affair of Consumer Reports is back on track with the new one as they ranked the new Accord above Camry and Sonata.

The new Accord also made it to the 10 best list of the Car & Driver magazine.

The only problem in Pakistan is the price of this car, in other countries, the new Accord starts from a very affordable price of 21,000 US $ for the base model Accord and that is tremendous value for money but here, we’re guessing it will be priced around 8-9 million rupees which is hardly what anyone will call value for money especially when you can get a used BMW M5 for less then that and/or a new BMW 3-Series for less then 5 million and if the Accord here is of the same stature as BMW and Mercedes, so why bother for a Honda at all?

The post Honda Pakistan launches the new Accord appeared first on PakWheels Blog.

The government has revised different tax slabs on registration of the vehicle which range from Rs 12,000 to Rs 80,000 depending upon the displacement (cc) of the vehicles engine.

Moreover, the government has proposed to add a new tax on the purchase of jeeps and cars which ranges from Rs 10,000 and Rs 150,000 depending on the engine capacity.

A 10 percent federal excise duty (FED) will also be imposed on vehicles with engines larger then 1800cc regardless of whether they are imported or locally made.

An auto analyst said that the local automakers and importers have both transferred any additional tax or duty imposed by the government to the buyers and the new taxes and duties introduced may increase car prices from Rs 5,000 to Rs 65,000.

Even All Pakistan Motor Dealers Association (APMDA) Chairman HM Shahzad doesn’t seem so happy about the exemption of duties on Hybrid vehicles saying that the government’s decision to release cars duty free will only be limited to those falling under 1200cc and that there’s only one Chinese company who make a Hybrid with a 1200cc engine so the policy remains suspicious to them.

The post Locally made car prices may increase appeared first on PakWheels Blog.

You can clearly see the negligence of these people. Its like they are waiting for some one to tell them to “please move sir. A life is at risk.” I have also seen people who get out of their cars and tell people to move their cars an ambulance is waiting for you to move their vehicles. There are also people who only see a glimpse of an ambulance and they give way. So we should realize its our responsibility as a driver to give way to emergency vehicles.

Our government should take notice and build emergency lanes for emergency vehicles. It will be filled by motorcyclists and every other driver on the road but expensive fines must be placed with a bit of jail time to keep them off it.

If an emergency vehicle approaches using flashing blue lights, headlights and/or sirens, follow these tips to help it to get through safely:

• Look and listen.
• Signal your intentions by using your indicators or hand signals.
• Pull in safely and be aware of pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles around you.
• Pull in as far as you can.
• Leave a gap large enough for the emergency vehicle to get through.
• Stay alert – more vehicles may be coming.
• Stay calm.
• If you’re a pedestrian, keep off the road.

All vehicles on both sides of the road must slow down or even stop to leave a clear path, but do not endanger other road users. Don’t stop in the middle of a junction. (If you’re blocking the path of the emergency vehicle, you may have to turn the corner to get out of the way.)

The post Importance of emergency lanes appeared first on PakWheels Blog.

The new budget may have favored hybrid cars and has increased the prices of a lot of others however, the duty on CKD units is to be slashed from 35% to 25%.

CKD (complete-knockdown-kit) is basically all the car parts which are manufactured in one country, and then shipped to another to be assembled into the final product. Pakistani automakers are auto assemblers and they import CKDs’ of cars and assemble them here.

As the duty on CKD unit is slashed from 35% to 25%, a significant decrease in prices of cars is expected.

The post Locally made cars to get cheaper as duty on CKD is slashed appeared first on PakWheels Blog.

Courtesy: Arghan Tahir (Jumbo International)

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Pakistan starts on the road to a greener tomorrow. The new government has made significant changes to the import duty structure.

According to the budget announced today by finance minister, Ishaq Dar:

Electric/Hybrid vehicles upto 1200cc: NO DUTY, NO SALES TAX
Electric/Hybrid vehicles from 1201cc to 1800cc: Reduced by 50%
Electric/Hybrid vehicles from 1801 to 2500cc: Reduced by 25%

Courtesy: Arghan Tahir (Jumbo International)

The post Pakistan to go Green – Duties Slashed Off of Hybrid Cars appeared first on PakWheels Blog.