Dewan Farooq Motors plans local production

ISLAMABAD: Dewan Farooq Motors Ltd (DFML) approached the government for reviving its closed plant and has also submitted a plan for local production of Daehan, SsangYong, and KIA vehicles to the Board of Investment (BOI) and Engineering Development Board (EDB), respectively.

The group applied for the revival of their closed plant on the back of the Automotive Development Policy (ADP) 2016-21 announced by the Ministry of Industries and Production in March 2016, which extends incentives for the revival of closed units, a statement said Wednesday.

The revival would mainly commence with  re-launch of Shehzore 1-Ton single rear wheel truck with Hyundai Powertrain in September 2016 followed by Shehzore 1-Ton truck with dual rear tyre in October 2016.

This investment of DFML would be followed by the introduction of 1.5 Ton Shehzore Truck and a 1600cc Specialised Utility Vehicle (SUV) in collaboration with Ssangyong China in 2017.  The company also plans to launch passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and SUVs in collaboration with KIA Motors Korea within the next three years.

Dewan Group has also finalised their agreement with SsangYong Motors Company, the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in South Korea.

DFML’s negotiations with KIA Motors, which is a part of Hyundai Motor Group, were at an advanced stage for local production of KIA range of vehicles in Pakistan, the statement added. KIA Motors entry into Pakistan together with DFML was contingent upon availability of Brownfield facility under the recently announced ADP 2016–2021. The EDB has started processing the case for re-launch of DFML which was likely to be approved soon.

By the introduction of Dewan Group, competition in the local car market would increase, especially after the launch of KIA Cars. Both BOI and EDB welcomed the investment and assured their support to DFML in a meeting last week to discuss the investment plan which was chaired by Minister of State and BOI Chairman Miftah Ismail.

The meeting was attended by BOI Secretary, EDB CEO, DFML officials, and senior government officers. A similar application by a large Lahore based motorcycle manufacturing company for manufacturing of Cars/LCVs has also been under consideration.