Changan Automobile, Master Motor sign agreement: Chinese joint venture to start $100mln car plant by year-end

KARACHI: Chinese automakers are set to kick-start their $100 million car assembling plant with annual production capacity of 30,000 units by the year-end, officials said on Friday.

“We are excited to see the market potential in Pakistan as well as the export opportunities we can tap,” Wang Huanran, assistant president and general manager of Overseas Business Development at Changan Automobile told media.

Changan Automobile signed an agreement with Master Motor Limited, an authorised assembler of Chinese auto brand in Pakistan and that is already assembling buses and trucks in Pakistan.

The companies entered into a joint venture to contribute to the indigenisation of the local automobile industry.

They would pool their resources and expertise to achieve the common goal of becoming Pakistan’s leading automobile company by 2025, Huanran said.

Changan has selected Pakistan as the base country for making of right hand drive vehicles.

Huanran said Changan is the largest selling Chinese auto brand in China for 10 years in a row, touching annual volume of 2.8 million with a wide range of light commercial, sports utility and multipurpose vehicles and passenger cars through joint ventures with manufacturers like Suzuki, Ford, PSA, Mazda, Bosch, Aisin and Schaeffler.

Chairman Nadeem Malik at Master Motor said the group has been working in automotive industry for the last two decades and producing trucks and buses and has so far sold over 17,000 vehicles in Pakistan.

“Pakistan has huge potential in terms of motorisation index since it ranked 160 in the world with only 18 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants,” Malik said.

“Together with Changan we can tap the market potential while leading on technology front and offering latest technologies at affordable price to deliver unprecedented value to the customers.”

Chief executive officer Danial Malik at Master Motor said the company aims at to bring value and cutting edge technology to every segment of the market.

“This joint venture with Changan will not only create thousands of jobs in the

industry but also promote the Pakistani vendor base through technology transfer via localisation,” Malik added.

He said the plant being established in Karachi will start production in December with the plant capacity of 30,000 units in double shift.

“We will start with few thousand units a year and will reach our full production capacity within three years,” he said.

“We are in the process of selecting dealers to be part of our network to serve our customers better by ensuring service and spare parts availability in all major cities.”

Changan is producing world class products with an emphasis on safety and research development. Changan ranked no. 1 in research and development capability for continuous 10 years with nine centres in China, Italy, Japan, UK and USA.

Also, Changan has partnered with internet services firm Tencent to develop internet of vehicles and is the first company to introduce autonomous technology in mass production of cars in China.