Govt to Investigate Increasing Car Prices

For the past year, car prices in Pakistan have been going up and up. The car companies have started to increase the prices once every quarter. The government has expressed concerns over increasing car prices multiple times. But, every time, the companies come up with excuses to justify their actions. Unsatisfied with their explanations, the government has decided to hire a private firm to conduct a forensic audit of the prices.

In the last meeting between the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P), Ministry of Finance, and Engineering Development Board (EDB), the monitoring committee sought an explanation from the car companies over the massive price hike. In a follow-up meeting, the committee sat down with the industry representatives to go over their explanation.

Car Price Hikes

The auto industry representatives cited two primary reasons behind the back-to-back car price hikes. 

• Devaluation of rupee against dollar
• Increasing operational costs (freight charges and raw materials)

Not so convinced by the explanation, the monitoring committee has directed to carry out a forensic analysis of the car prices in comparison with these factors. Secretary MoI&P has directed to complete the forensic within two weeks.

Other Concerns

During the last meeting, the monitoring committee criticized the car companies for producing low quality and unsafe vehicles despite the high prices, CKD imports, late delivery of cars, and production capacity. This time, the auto industry representatives also provided explanations on all these issues. 

In just three months, the car companies have hiked car prices twice. The second hike is happening these days. Kia, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, and Hyundai have increased their prices, with others to follow. The public has had enough of the skyrocketing car prices, and so has the government. The authorities are finally taking action on the increasing prices by going to the root of the problem. Let’s see what mysteries the forensic analysis unfolds and what the government does about it.