Ghandhara Nissan Limited starting its operation in 1981 under the license for selling Nissan vehicles in Pakistan. Later on in 1992 the private company turned into a public one, but was it really a public’s company?
Nissan has a huge make around the world and they give good competition to their competitors in the market of trucks. UAE serves Nissan to be a good customer too because of their love for Nissan Patrol. What about Pakistan? Why can’t we be fortunate enough to have cars of Nissan?
A very big reason for Nissan Ghandhara to pack up from the soil of Pakistan was the resale mindset. Ever wondered why do we even have this resale concept? Almost half of the nation is just running with this mindset, like a sheep following sheep but take out five minutes of your busy schedules and think about it.
I’m talking to all those people who switch their Toyotas whenever the new model arrives not because it’s the latest model but majorly because the car has breath its last; waiting for Honda to introduce their new shape city as if a miracle is going to happen. No way…it is going to be the same tin sheet with some different curves and different lights. Is that what you deserve? We all have helped these automakers to control us. We have the power to change the automakers.
People here are after the resale mindset because the cars produced by our local automakers do not even measure up to the average benchmark and they need to be changed after every five years.
A friend of mine was desperately waiting for the new Honda City so that he can purchase one but unfortunately Honda could not come up with it. Also here I would like to thank PakWheels to let the customers and fans know that Honda is not going to introduce the vehicle anywhere near the future otherwise they would have been waiting with 1.7 million rupees just to buy a car which is not worth more than a million. Back to the topic, my friend got frustrated and completely boycotted Honda. He sold his city and purchased Nissan Bluebird and guess what? He’s more than happy.
The 1.5 liter engine it is equipped with is better than your brand new 1.6 Toyota Corolla Altis and your brand new 1.5 Honda City Aspire. The vehicle has a good comfort level along with roomy interior; above all it has good safety features too, with a passenger airbag which is absent on almost all of your local vehicles. The bitter truth is you see this beautiful vehicle once in a blue moon. This vehicle surely deserves better treatment, better coverage and better customers.
It’s high time we start thinking about changing our mindsets, because only commenting in the comment section below against our automakers is in no way going to help. We need to be pro-active on different platforms.
I totally agree with the author, it’s time we should get out of this sick-resale-mentality. What these local manufactures have done is that they have created a fool’s paradise around us, claiming their vehicle the best of the best and for which they have charged us exorbitantly too.
Yet we never refrain to yell “Mai Tay Honda Ee Laisaan” , “Corolla Corolla Hai Bhaee” and “Suzuki Ki Maintenance Baree Aasan Hai” . I am sick of these cliches …!!
Nissan sunny was much better than the corolla. And also if majority of Pakistanis experimenting on new mobiles like huawei and lenovo coz they offer better value why not cars?
From where he buy…now no-one import nissan and mazda car…em also searching nissan or mazda sedan
nissan and mitsubishi are good cars… the korean ones should be here too… we need more variety and someone who “improves” the local manufacturing quality…
at least some1
raised the voice
“Mai Tay Honda Ee Laisaan” , “Corolla Corolla Hai Bhaee” and “Suzuki Ki Maintenance Baree Aasan Hai”
Well these cliches are present and will haunt us because we have been controlled yet deceived by supposedly “Big 3” of our local auto market. On top of it, stupid duties and taxes do not allow most people to buy better stuff. Just because E Class and Camry are 2.4L hence they have to be priced above Rs. 1 cror. Can we even compare these two cars yet have to pay such a heft price for Camry???
Coming back to topic, I must say that Nissan, Hyndai and now Kia have very cool cars. In fact Saudia Arabia who always had this love for American Cars, their roads are now infested with Hyndais and my word :: Hyndai cars are awesome: shape wise, feature wise, durability. I was amazed that even their Elantra was way more cool than our corollas and Honda citys. And elantra is like one of ttheir least grade model. Everything from interior, door plannels, AC, dual air bags, ABS. What else you need in this price but alas in Pakistan we will never get this luxury. These Big 3 have connections way up among the decision makers and they will keep deceiving us with cheap sub standard over priced craps. One can only hope other car manufacturers come to Pakistan and mark my word guys … if WV, Hyndai, Kia, Nissan comes to Pakistan, the big 3 will fall flat on its face … but where I am banging my head at. This is Pakistan 🙂
Looks like a page from your diary. Basing all your argument on your friends purchase. Toyota Corolla is no.1 is many countries around the globe. Nissan is not even in the race. The only reason probably he is enjoying his this un-known nissan model is because it is not local manufactured. The fault lies with low quality work they do here and get away with it. Anyway, there are many reasons for the monopoly of incumbents and less interest from other vendors, but surely Nissan Bluebird is a better car than corolla is not one of them.
Resale mentality is not sick, it is only logical. Here you never know when you will need the money. Maybe your mother has heart attack (we have a high rate of heart disease). Maybe somebody shoots another family member while snatching mobile. Maybe someone gets hurt in bomb blast. Any time you may need money. We always have shortage of working capital funds. Shopkeeper does not have change (khulla) of 500 or 1000.
As a nation we do not like to pay salary, which is usually more than 100 days late. Most people are already in debt. Most businesses are in debt.
In any emergency situation, people do not have the cash to fulfill their need. The only thing they can do is to sell their car/motorcycle. But hey why does everybody has a car/motorcycle? Poor people having working capital shortage also have corolla? The answer is yes, because the public transport is pathetic. So even the poorest person has to sacrifice their needs and to buy his/her own transport.
If your mother or father has heart attack, only corolla or CD-70 will help you because it will be sold in 5-minutes while the doctors are performing CPR. Buy a low resale car and it will take months to sell. By that time your mother or father would have passed away and you would kick yourself for the rest of your life.
Some of you may recall that in the early 2000s we had Mobilink, Instaphone and one or two mobile phone companies. The call charges were very high and the service was not very good. Then Ufone, Telenor, Zong and some other companies started their service. Now there is good competition and call charges are very reasonable.
What is needed is for the Govt to provide incentives to different car companies so that the competition for Toyota, Honda and Suzuki increases and we can buy better built cars in Pakistan.
What was wrong with Nissan ? Why Nissan failed to learn the points which would have made resale better?
To be very honest the only reason we have resale issues and the resale mentality is because of the resale mentality. The only reason you can’t sell your japenese car or your Nissan in this case really quick is because people are not willing to buy the car due to the resale value. Just answer one very simple question? WHY? Why do Corollas and mehrans sell easily? They’re not reliable they’re not cheap they’re not a good value for money.
excellent article.well done
I agree with the author. The resale mindset has made people stick to just a few cars and that is why many good cars are neglected simply due to ignorance. My father bought the Nissan Sunny in 2005 when Gandhara Nissan imported that particular model from Japan for the first time. We were lucky as the first lot were made in Japan cars. I drove the Nissan Sunny for 8 years and have also driven competing models of Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic / City and in my experience Nissan Sunny was a much better car. Its drive was more smooth and suspension was very comfortable. It was a durable car and required little maintenance other than the usual routine oil change, etc. It handled well in the city and also on long routes such as on the motorway. The leg room in the back seats was a bit less but the drive more than compensated for that. I sold that car in 2013 through Pak Wheels and couldn’t get good value because of the local mindset about resale that restricts to giving high value to the local Corollas and Civics. But i had no regrets as that car gave me a great 8 years service in comfort. I am in Canada now and drive a car from the Mazda brand and enjoy my current car just as much. Here one sees a lot of Toyota Corollas, Camrys and Honda Civics, Accords but then one also sees a lot of Nissan Sentras (Sunny equivalent), Altimas and Mazda 3s, 6s and Hyundai Elantras, Sonatas, etc. Such variety is always good for the customers as that makes the manufacturers offer more features and better quality. Why do cars in Pakistan only have driver seat or maybe driver and front passenger seat airbags and not the 6-8 airbags that cars in other countries have, why don’t cars in Pakistan not even have something as basic as Cruise Control? Its simply because the local population is happy with the minimum feature Toyotas and Hondas and just don’t appreciate anything else even if it is better ! I hope this mentality changes in Pakistan … if it does, Pakistanis will themselves enjoy !
well honestly first of all you have to change the mindset of pepoles. they are more attracted to a 7 lacks worth of shit thn any other good car (USED/REFERBISHED/NEW). Ppl still buying mehran as i am writing this & u are reading it. The monoply needs to be broke.. Or else we will be only left with 7 lacks worth of a hatch back shit, a dabba shit, or a carry shit.. OH & BY THE WAY PPL WHO R SAYING IT SHOULD COME TO PAKISTAN. THE SAME PPL WILL SAY IF IT COMES ” NAI YAAR MEHRAN HI THEEK HAI”..
PS: No Offence!!
Heard that Monopoly is going to be broken soon. Some Concerned authorities like competition commission of Pakistan is making plans to initiate investigations against these Big 3.
Elantra is a good car but civic got better interior. You liked it coz of wasn’t made in Pakistan! If you compare with civic in saudia they got way better civic then ours and is better than elantra.
PM of Pakwheel I request you to hire some quality writers who really know how to do research rather then who is just publishing fact-less personal feelings regarding subject (and rewriting a copied source). I know you have a few good ones on board and I also know that these “karaye kay likhari” are giving you traffic. But believe you me the real driver and owner will get divergent soon (as soon as there is competition).
Everyone’s a ‘karaye ka likhari’ when you start paying them. No one writes for free.
Whats your point?
Why not you submit couple of ‘quality’ blogs?
Exactly, you got my point. NAI YAAR MEHRAN HI THEEK HAI. HAHA
Thank you for the effort of writing a comment and mentioning us ” Karaye kay likhari ” Mr.Tanweer. Next time come up with a respectable comment. It’ll be highly appreciated.
Also provide me with some facts so that I can further enrich my knowledge.
Excellent analysis, we as pakistanis have fears….. you cannot buy an agriculture land without through investigation that “zameen kaheen kabzay wali nahi ho”, ………… “corolla lay tu lain magar iss ka Gaurd kahan se laoon ga chori na ho jai”………..
And dont depend on government they are the faces that create these fears in people……..
I think the writer has been stressing on a valid point, which I agree with, that the mindset of the customer in Pakistan is flawed. They want a car which they can sell on after a few years for decent return on resale. This mindset is not letting the auto industry evolve and grow and mature. So many manufacturers came and folded because of this mindset. New manufacturers are afraid to enter the market dominated by 2 or 3 manufacturers who have deep roots in the country’s industry and have a lot of say when it comes to lobbying in the political circles.
As for the writer, don’t let anyone tell you that you are a mediocre or a sub-par writer. Sure you can improve on the research and fact finding. But isn’t that just about the learning curve. No one can become a finished article overnight. You have to work hard for it. My advicel; take criticism on board and react positively.
Mr. Tanweer, please forgive the kid for being complacent. I am sure he is passionate about what he’s doing and will become better at it.
Totally agreed with the writter. We need to brake this monopoly but we should change our mindset first to think about other options available!
Some good automakers interested to invest but they scared because of this monopoly and most importantly our mindset.
Right on the money is what this article is …. this not only applies to cars, but to accessories as well. For example people claim to be huge music fans but when they go to get an audio system for their car they’ll be like “Poy-near ka tape laga dou aur canewood kay speakers”. Show something like Nakamichi to these morons and they’ll be like “Yeh tou national ka tape hai!”. I’ve seen people sell their factory fitted (brand new) alpine and clarion systems for chump change and installing crappy “poyneer ka tape”s just because “uss may buildings ghoomti hain aisa lagta hai new York aa gaya!”
I personally love Nissan cars, Nissan Bluebird Sylphy is my favourite car. I absolutely agree with the writer regarding this resale mindset that the Pakistani people have in purchasing cars. Why do we not consider this resale concept in purchasing stuff such as domestic appliances, clothings such as underwear and stuff. Car is just a material and meant to use and enjoy. There was no resale concept till the mid seventies, people bought cars according to their affordibility and personal likes and dislikes and every car was considered a good car. But now a days cars such as Nissan and Mitsubishi are considered bad cars because of the incompetant mechanics.
You cannot tell people what to do.. For many people (including me) resale value is a big deal. You will realize this once you finish your bachelors, get a real job and buy a car off your own money. AND ‘resale value’ doesn’t come into being automatically. Companies that work hard and provide good user experience and customer services to their consumers can create ‘resale value’ too for their products. Case in point – Honda! Up till 1995 Honda was like Nissan. They worked hard,produced quality products and after-sales services and were able to create ‘re-sale value’ for their vehicles.
you know when you put it like that, esp “Such variety is always good
——-not the 6-8 airbags that cars in other countries have,” it makes
more sense.
if you think about it the resale mindset has really
prevented a healthy competition and better quality cars or for that
matter mid quality but feature packed cars to come in
would you
not want to have 7lacs that you earned by scrapping your ass in office
every day for 10 hours and buy a hyundai or Mazada’s for that amount ,
be it that they may be reconditioned, ive owned a Nissan and found it to
be one heck of a car, reliable
i agree with the writer and hope
we can one day break this monopoly, if a change comes our way, id throw
away my civic for a mazda or a hyundia or better yet another nissan
I agree with the writer. In Pakistan we are like sheep behind sheep going. There was a time when everyone coming from abroad must have Yashica Camera, National Tv.
Same in bike, Kawasaki and Suzuki were the best in 1980’s. But the lobby of Honda eliminated Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki.
Same in Cars. In all over the world, models of every automobiles changes every year. Even then every model sold. Whereas in Pakistan, we are using Suzuki Alto( Mehran) which is coming in same shape as it first arrived in late 1988. And we are happy to buy this car, instead of Daihatsu Cuore which is far most durable car than Mehran.
Mindset of Pakistani people cannot be changed. They buy later first think about selling it.
Like Suzuki Mehran good resale value worst car experience
Actually Honda is Releasing a new car named Ridegline and Clarity
Honda is the Number one Automobile company
Indeed it is good topic and written well. However, it opens a new dimension i.e what are the reasons behind these cars to not have a resale value and how companies or invester can do to overcome those obstecles which curtailing the market of cars like nissan, mitsubishi, etc.
Pakistan is a country where cars survive when they are properly maintained. Nissan and Mitsubishi, thier 3S or 5S shop are very scarce in Pakistan. In addition, Accidents are very common in Pakistan, so there is need of spare parts. Unfortunately, the spart part of these cars are either very expansive and hard to find due to the absence of 3S shops of these companies. I believe, if these companies or invester would launch thier workshop network, the mindset of common Pakistani can easily be changed towords these fabalus cars.