@AMUBEEM and @All
The things you have to consider my dear friends are:
We have a monopolized car market and after sales support structure.
Quality of our roads or lack thereof.
The strain put on cars driven on our roads and how frequently things bust and maintenance and parts replacement is forced on us as compared to when driving in other parts of the civilized world.
The amount of potholes, traffic and traffic jams and the width of most streets.
Income and income security opposed to expenditure and inflation.
What it feels like when your 1.5 million PKR car hits a big pothole that you just could not avoid and you can’t do nothing but swear at the government for not doing its job of building and maintaining quality roads, and the next thing you know your rims are out of balance yet once again.
Do we buy cars as status symbols and secure investments or do we buy them as daily commuters?
The top of the line Honda civic in Pakistan has a price tag of rupees 15,00,000 (equivalent US dollar value $ 24,700 + Own money or a ridicules wait period + CNG charges)
The equivalent Civic in the USA has a MSRP (MSRP is somewhat equivalent to ex factory price in Pakistan but in practical when you go to buy you will almost always get it cheaper then the stated MSRP) of US $ 21,855 which includes a navigation system and offers way more features then what the highest end (trim) civic offers in Pakistan and in the US you pay about US $ 3000 less and get more bang for your buck and better build and ride quality.
For 15,00,000 PKR, you can get a NGV civic with GX trim in California and NY. Yes it is a CNG vehicle with CNG kit already included in the price tag. For even a lesser price you can get a Civic Si sedan. Off course taxes and registration charges are after this price in USA and Pakistan.
If you search for the answers to the questions I asked and look at the reality of the car usage in Pakistan and it don’t matter who the manufacturer is, you will understand why majority of people’s attitudes are what they are.
And as far as the availability of parts go, yes every thing is available but for a price. If you had to wait a week for a simple clutch cable to arrive and pay a ridiculously huge amount for it plus shipment charges and had to commute in taxis for that one week your car was not drivable, you will understand what I am talking about.
Parts availability, there prices, the hassle involved in getting them and running expenditures that are beyond the reach of the majority of people will definitely have them thinking weather they should do without the luxury and just stick to providing for there basic necessity. That is to get from point A to point B in the cheapest possible way and simply because they don’t even have the financial ability to respectably get from point A to point B let alone ask for quality, luxury and security features.
On a different note with the exception of a few, the majority of used cars being imported as immaculate used Japanese vehicles are high mileage crap people get rid of in there countries and we end up with them as quality imported used cars. There is no free lunch in this world. Oh and by no means feel that I am condoning this monopolized local car market, the black marketers, or the local car manufactures for producing high priced low quality junk.
Buy a brand new Suzuki Mehran and read the manual, it will tell you how to use the back window defogger and will also show you the place of where the switch is located on the right side of your dash, reality check, there is no back window defogger in Mehran, Its called lowering production costs to maximize profits. Go ask people if they know what a back window defogger is, the majority simply don't know. I have seen countless people that don't know what it is and how to use it. So lack of knowledge for the majority is an issue in itself.
Where does all this leave the Pakistani car consumers? It leaves them choosing models which are cheaper to run have abundant and trouble free availability of cheap parts and which relatively hold there value or in other words have better resale.
Economic “security” and “prosperity” changes attitudes and until that happens for the majority of people in our country we will choose necessity and secure investments over quality and safety. Until as a majority (Not counting the privileged class) we learn and accept that a one million PKR car will be worth basically 10% of its purchase value in the coming 10 years and until we have the financial ability and security to pay and bear the depreciation cost of using cars we cannot change our attitudes it will not work for the majority. The majority simply does not have the luxury of absorbing 1 Lakh rupees per year as depreciation cost of quality cars.
Compare and see for yourselves:
www.automobiles.honda.com (USA Site)
www.honda.com.pk (Pakistan site)