KARACHI: Imports of used cars have doubled in the first four months of the current financial year as compared to the same period last year, eating up hundreds of vending jobs, an official of Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), said on Friday. The imports in the first fourth months of 2015/16 have jumped to 14,106 units, with 4,041 imported in the month of October. The imports were just 7,982 units with 1,886 in October in the first four months of 2014/15. The share of hybrid vehicles has also increased with the import of 3,200 units in the four months of the current financial year, making it 23 percent of the total imports. In October, 850 hybrid units were imported. The import of hybrid cars was 1,347 units with 350 in October and 17 percent in the four initial months of 2014/15. Likewise, the import of up to 800cc segment stands at 2,302 units with 714 units imported in October, while above 800cc to 1290cc segment witnessed the import of 3,968 units with 1,027 imported in October. The import of 1300cc to 1800cc segment stood at 1,714 units with 519 in October, while in the van, pickup, minivan segments (up to 800cc) the imports were 3,310 units with 984 only in October. The import of SUV segment was 2,342 units with 625 units in October. Similarly, the luxury segment (above 1800cc) imports were 144 units with 39 in October, while the import of buses and trucks segment stood at 326 units with 133 in October. "The reason behind the increasing imports of hybrids is that the importers are taking advantage of lower duty on hybrids over and above the normal one percent waiver for each month on used cars," an industry official said. A local auto assembler said that there is an alarming rise in the import of luxury cars, which shows that the policymakers are, in fact, facilitating the richest segment of the society in acquiring used cars at concessional duties. "Though the import of used cars was allowed by the policymakers to facilitate consumers in buying cheaper cars, this purpose has been defeated, as all the used cars being imported in the country are retailed at much higher price than their equivalent local variant," he said. For example, he said, all 1300 and 1600 variants of three years old are being sold at higher prices than the local equivalent cars, ie, three years old Vitz is more expensive than brand new Suzuki Swift produced in Pakistan and three years old Every cost more than the brand new Suzuki Bolan. "It is this lower duty that results in the loss of billions of rupees to the government every year. The local auto industry; therefore, is requesting the government to increase the fixed duty on used imported vehicles as per the new vehicle prices worldwide," an expert said. The lower duty entice importers / customers due to which vehicles are being imported in huge quantities, despite the fact that the local industry is fully capable to meet the local demand, he said. "Approximately over twotimes more forex is being wasted on importing a used car as compared to importing a CKD. This puts Pakistani rupee under pressure, which continues to depreciate," he added. The expert said that no country allows the domestic auto industry to import used cars, in fact, they discourage it by using all sorts of tariff and non-tariff barriers. "Japan and South Korea are two big auto producing nations that have almost negligible imports. All industrialised nations like Korea, India and Thailand protect their local industries by discouraging imports," he added. Statistics available on the portal of Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) regarding production of locally-produced vehicles reflect that in the last four months from July till October around 60,748 units of passenger cars were produced, of which 12,994 units in July; 16,802 in August; 15,337 in September and in October a total of 15,615 units of passenger cars were produced locally.
