Locally Assembled Skoda and Volkswagen On The Way

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An auto assembly plant is being constructed in Hub for rolling out locally assembled Skoda and Volkswagen vehicles for the first time in Pakistan.

On Wednesday, the German Consul General, Dr. Rüdiger Lotz, paid a visit to Premier Motors Ltd. CKD manufacturing plant for Volkswagen AG vehicles in Hub, Balochistan, that is under construction. The visit concluded positively as the consul general was very impressed by Premier Motors’ impressive and outstanding automotive plant.

This collaboration between Premier Motors and VW AG group will open doors for the local assembly of premium Skoda and Volkswagen vehicles for the first time in Pakistan. This collaboration is worth almost $100 million and is expected to bring more capital and investments into the country. It is estimated that the plant will be completed in 2024 with a capacity to assemble 30,000 units per month.

PAMA’s Letter to SBP 

At the same time, the existing auto players in the Pakistani automotive industry are struggling to stay afloat. Issues like the scarcity of foreign exchange and supply chain approvals are hindering the growth of the auto industry.

On Thursday, the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) and the Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM) wrote a joint letter to State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmed stating that the auto industry is about to die as a consequence of SBP’s restrictions and a lack of cooperation from banks due to which the imports of parts, accessories, and tooling are completely slowed down.

Consequently, factories keep shutting down from time to time which further causes the assemblers to mass fire workers. If no measures are taken to break this vicious cycle, it will result in mass unemployment, loss of foreign capital, loss of the government’s revenue as well as the closure of auto assembly plants.

Based on statistics from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), CKD kits import had dropped by 38 percent to $499 million in 1HFY23 from $808 million last year.

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1 Comment
  1. Waqas says

    Don’t misguide peoples, Skoda is not premium, is the other way around, Audi is the premium brand of Volskwagen group.

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