Amid ongoing economic challenges, Indus Motors Company (IMC), the producerof Toyota vehicles in Pakistan, expressed confidence in the automotiveindustry’s ability to overcome these hurdles. Emphasizing the importance ofimport substitution, IMC’s CEO, Ali Asghar Jamali, stated that they areactively working on import substitution strategies and exploringopportunities to boost exports in order to address the current economicsituation.
“We are devising plans to survive and we will survive somehow,” the IMC CEOvowed.
Despite economic uncertainties and imbalanced taxation, IMC remainscommitted to its plans for the Toyota Corolla Cross, Pakistan’s firstlocally produced hybrid electric vehicle SUV. The company has facedintermittent plant shutdowns and reduced production shifts due to thesechallenges. Jamali mentioned that the increased tax burden, including GST,CVT, and WTH, has impacted car prices, leading to difficulties. Hehighlighted the potential for the company to switch to importing cars ifthe government allows.
To adapt to the circumstances, IMC has taken measures such ascost-cutting, operating the plant on a single shift, reducing variousexpenditures, optimizing packaging expenses, and implementing energy-savinginitiatives. Despite these efforts, the auto industry has seen a decline insales, with a significant decrease in sales volume compared to previousyears. Auto sales, encompassing cars, light commercial vehicles (LCVs),vans, and Jeeps, decreased by 16% to 5100 units during July 2023 comparedto June 2023, and they plunged by 57% when compared to July 2022, asreported by AHL Research.
Read Top Stories
Throughout the first seven months of the calendar year 2023, auto salestotaled 48,000 units, marking a decline of 69% year-on-year. The autoindustry has experienced a collective drop in sales by around one-third,with every company achieving approximately one-third of their sales fromthree years prior.