Government’s repeated auction attempts fail

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24 luxury cars remain unsold

The government’s austerity drive in auctioning the official luxury vehicles failed to achieve the desired results as 24 luxury cars remain unsold after 7 attempts.

The PTI government announced last year to auction official vehicles from several departments in a bid to carry forward the austerity drive of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The first auction was conducted on 17th September 2018 in which 49 vehicles were included by the government. However, the decision to auction these vehicles couldn’t fulfil its basic aim as only 25 vehicles have been sold to the highest bidders so far.  The government has made 7 attempts to auction these vehicles but all in vain. 20 out of the total 24 unsold vehicles consist of high-security protection features which made them costly for the buyers and the government received lower bids for them. As a result, the FBR has finally decided to send the remaining vehicles back to the PM’s office and several other departments and ministries.

The austerity drive was introduced mainly to address the prevailing budget deficit. The current account deficit is on its way to reaching its absolute figure in the history of the country. However, most of the efforts made by the government have failed to meet the cause so far. Solid efforts were made during the last six months to auction these vehicles but only half of them could be sold. According to the written reply of FBR, these vehicles once returned to the respective departments could be used for an official purpose in case of a foreign delegation visit instead of auctioning them against low-bids. According to the details, a total of 49 vehicles were handed over to FBR’s Model Customs Collectorate for auction over the instructions of the Prime Minister under SRO 450 (1) 2001. The distribution of these 49 vehicles from several ministries/departments is as follows:

  • Prime Minister House (03)
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs (09)
  • Cabinet Division (27)
  • Intelligence Bureau (10)

Furthermore, there is another proposal under consideration to transfer these vehicles to the larger automobile markets of the country such as Lahore and Karachi for making last auction attempt. There is comparatively a much higher probability of fetching reasonable bids for these vehicles in Lahore and Karachi due to a higher number of potential buyers. On the other hand, any further reduction in the reserved prices of these vehicles is not what the government is looking to achieve. Otherwise, the vehicles will be returned to respective departments rather than disposing them at lower bids. The list of protective cum luxury vehicles that were included in the auction includes the world’s most premium automobile brands. The list also includes a majority of bulletproof vehicles. A few of them are mentioned below:

  • BMW 760Li 2014
  • Mercedes-Benz Maybach S600 2016
  • Mercedes-Benz S600L 2016
  • Mercedes-Benz S500 2005
  • Mercedes-Benz S600 2005
  • Mercedes-Benz Limousine 2005
  • Toyota Land Cruiser 2008,2015
  • Luxury Jeep 2005
  • Mercedes-Benz Jeep 2005
  • BMW X5 2016
  • Mercedes-Benz S300
  • Lexus Jeep 2006
  • Mitsubishi Pajero 2004,2006

That’s it from our side for now. Stay with PakWheels for more updates related to the automobile industry.

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