In a matter of a few days, The Maruti Suzuki India would reveal the face lifted version of the Swift Dzire. The most popular mid-sized sedans in the Indian market, the Dzire is an extended version of the Maruti Suzuki Swift, which is the most popular hatchback in India. The coming Swift Dzire now gets dark tinted headlamps, more chrome finish at the front and a new bumper at the back. Moreover, the coming Dzire is said to have improved its fuel economy by 10% as compared to its predecessor.
Now, you all must be thinking that why are we even discussing this car? We’ve never pointed out a Maruti before, why is this happening now?
I took an unusual path to carve an article out due to the recent orders that have been sent to the Pakistan Customs Authorities by FBR, which have added much to our hopes and optimism of the revival in our local car industry. According to the Auto Policy, the local automakers were emphasized upon increasing the quality and choice of their manufactured vehicles, but apparently they didn’t comply and kept on selling highly priced and poor quality vehicles, the government has recently introduced an Auto Policy which encourages the new entrants in the local market to come and introduce new cars. All these efforts and policies are being crafted in order to achieve one goal; the enhancement of automobiles in the country.
A country’s economy can never rely on imports and according to the balance of trade theory; a country’s exports should be a surplus rather than the imports. In case of Pakistan, the import meter is redlining for quite a long time now and is constantly damaging the economic engine. This phenomenon can be eliminated or, at least reduced, with the suggestions in the latest Auto Policy, in which, a thorough and detailed plan is introduced which covers almost everything, including the vehicle safety regulations as well.
Coming back to the point of interest, the Indian automobile market is filled up with a large number of locally produced vehicles. May that be a Suzuki or may that be a Mercedes Benz, the Indians are producing them locally rather than importing them. Our beloved Pakistan, on the other hand, is at least a decade behind them economically and hence, we are still offered with a Suzuki Mehran which looks a pretty awesome car, only if you read its brochure. The Maruti Suzuki offers 7 variants in Swift Dzire only, and this figure is more than the local cars you can buy in Pakistan altogether.
According to the recent news, we’re getting two new cars from Indus, the Yaris and Vios, a new Suzuki Celerio and lastly, Atlas Honda is due on replacing the Honda City. The recently introduced Auto policy, if it is implied even forcefully, would take the country’s automobile industry to a whole new level, with new cars, better technology, increased safety standards and more choices, but, is that it?
Will we only have the choice of Suzuki, Honda and Toyota forever? Would that be enough? We cannot expand any further than that? Oh yes we can! Living in a country where Lamborghini’s and Ferrari’s can be imported with payments exceeding twice their cost, this country has the potential. New entrants should introduce new cars, Hyundai can bring its exclusive and pretty cars, FAW can introduce a sedan, the existing sharks in the industry can bring more choices in their car line up like our neighbors have done and so on. We have the money, the car manufacturers just have to impress us.
So, in the end, I’d like the Pak Suzuki, Atlas Honda and Indus Toyota to take some notes and start working on what the local buyers want. You can keep filling your pockets by selling us Toyota’s with faulty headlamps or Suzuki whose doors don’t shut or Honda’s whose power steering assembly keeps malfunctioning, or, you can increase the quality standards and checks, introduce more cars to the market, value your customer and make so much more profits than you already are. All you have to do is to impress us.
Ya Pakistan yahan har koi phla apna sochta phir awaam ( dosro) k … india agar ap na koi product launch karna ho tu wahan sab se phla iss product bargain kia jta jab us ki minimum cost settle ho jai than politician or officers apni commission ki bat karta ha jab k Pakistan ma sab ulta ha
negativity 🙁
Great Article. The problem is The mentality. From 1 Rupee Chewing gum to a 2 million car, every producer/manufacture supply its product with a view in a mind that WE as consumers don’t need any standards regarding thr products. we will buy anything which is available in the market . Because the consumers have no alternative. and the big companies know this.
…………………………..we still live in a country where you buy an expensive car with no airbags fitted in it . no its not a joke…………………………..
My friend! sadly that’s the Bitter Truth! Not negativity! The Reality Mostly hurts!
Tell me this is wrong?
& all I saw above was Just that the Big Three PAMA Cartel Giants are going to introduce some Makeup Beauty Cars with the Junk Quality Inside!
No info about even existed Companies like DMMC Mitsubishi & Hyundai/KIA, NEXUS’s Chevrolet,or Ghandara NISSAN. These companies had done successful operations in Pakistan. Where are they now? Can you tell me any news about them??
& Regarding new companies, well nothing is still in the NEWS or Even Leaked NEWS! So Better live with it. Nothing is going to happen until something much more big will happen..
Poorly written article – don’t know where India came from, and what you’re trying to say and how you’re relating things with each other. The use of words and command on English is like that of a school student. Work harder.
Reality
Exactly in feb 2014 news arise Renaults is coming Pakistan….whole year end no any further news came. 1 french company also interested to launch 3 wheeler in asia ( the most interest it show in india and Pakistan) he claim that it launch 3 wheeler car in less than 1000 usd but no one notice about it.
I agree with you Fahad. But how will we kill that fear of “RESALE” due which we are buying XLi or Mehran. Automobile manufacturers cant step in unless they get a profit and Pak Suzuki is enjoying Pakistan with its Mehran due to one reason….. Resale value.
bro you need google translator to understand this article
Hey this article is well written and based on truth. India is manufacturing much better cars than us locally. We are paying too much but getting nothing. This is a monopoly of these companies and government. And if you don’t understand it then please use dictionary. Thanks
we can’t blame suzuki for producing mehran for decade if the ppl are mad enough to buy the substandard car the company is making their profit I have kept suzuki baleno and suzuki liana and that car were damn reliable now what ppl did to that car in market now see what ppl are doing to wagon r if the consumer demands a substandard product the company will provide them with it becoz the basic purpose establishing company was to earn profit same goes for xli now a days a 2006 xli and altis 1.8 cost same but I have seen xli holding a fast resale while altis seller are waiting for buyer for long
Only Renault? Probably with two or three cars. & Three Wheeler Car like in We saw in Mr.Bean. Well That’s a Little good NEWS but not great! Like the Co.s i mentioned. NEXUS Chevrolet had plans to introduce CRUZE(Compared to ALTIS), Captiva(C to CR-V) & Also one more that was compared to Camry. Mitsubishi had Pajero, L200(C to hilux), Nissan ghandara had SUNNY, X-trail & PATROL. Now we see nothing. Just a PATHETIC Suzuki, a Desi INDUS Toyota & Not Soo Great Atlas.
India’s economy is almost 9 times bigger than ours. With our power outages and security conditions you should be thankful we are still getting hondas and suzukis because I dont think that even the existing companies in Pakistan want to expand further. Pakistan is turning into a s**t hole…thanks to our ruling elite who are busy filling their Swiss bank accounts.
Dear Sir/Madam,
First of all, I apologize for the poor use of my skills and I’ll make sure I utilize my full potential in the next write up.
Secondly, if you think you can be a help, please write for the blog and make the PakWheels Blog a better place to be.
Thank you Sir.
WE are the ones who preferred and still prefer those ‘Cartel Giants’ and WE are responsible for eliminating quality cars such as Nissan, Mitsubishi, Proton etc from the local market because WE still want a car which can be sold after 3 years from today at a great value because WE want our money back.
So, they all left without leaving any news for us.
Resale is a term only preferred in Pakistan.
I was watching Top Gear last night and in it, Jeremy mentioned that if a he buys a brand new BMW M6 Gran Coupe, he will lose £40-45k in just a year.
A whole while back, Jeremy mentioned in the news that the resale of a brand new Mercedes CL600 declined from £90k down to somewhere near £20k in just a YEAR.
We are the ones who have to change our preferences, not the car manufacturers.
True that, but their population is almost 6 times more than ours and they also have to face social problems such as crime. The majority of their areas are technologically backwards as well.
So it we cannot say that India-Pakistan comparison isn’t fair. I bet it is.
Great article. I have just one objection. Please don’t insult sharks by calling Suzuki a shark. It isn’t even a toad. Suzuki cars are so bad that it has declared bankruptcy in big markets like USA. The only reason Suzuki is a hit in Pakistan is the corrupt nature of Japanese, who keep bribing the corrupt Pakistani officials to make Suzuki win.
I will second your comment. We should be bugging the Noora government for a better auto policy. lets have some new players but being a wise economist, no one will be giving additional benefits to new comers and not giving anything to existing players. Nobody will be interested to invest in Pakistan due to lack of long term vision.
Guys, Does anybody has idea about thailand auto market? I guess only few. but do you know facts how much thai government provide support local auto industry. Used cars are totally banned because they know every used car import will definitely cost their forex reserves, which they are efficiently managing.
This is just because of us.. We don’t buy FAW V2 or other new comers, we don’t show confidence in other companies.. just because of RESALE.. Just for Resale factor we’ll drove the TEEN DABBA with Zero feature for 5 yrs..
Dear Fahad Mehmood,
Your article is good one. In my opinion currently available cars from Toyota, Honda, Suzuki are already being sold with abnormally high profit by these sharks (you used a superb word for these) if we make a comparison with our neighbouring countries. So i am concerned about your sentence at the end of your article this “make so much more profits than you already are”. Please don’t encourage them 🙂
Agreed with Mr. Faraz. We have lost Hundai & Chivorlet. Currently only Suzuki Mehran has left under one million. all other available brands are above this range and i am surprised how rich nation we are that we are continously buying such abnormally expensive cars that do not justify there price with respect to the features
That’s quite a well written piece…good job Fahad!
Well written article. I recently read on internet that Geely is coming to Pakistan. They even have a dedicated website for Pakistan on which they say “coming soon to take over your expectations”. @fahadmehmood:disqus can you look into this and tell us more about Geely’s plans?
I know why i bought a corolla GLi. bcuz evrybody around me said you will get a better resale value. This type of things force you to buy this crap. You on ur place are right that we need to change our mind set.