Gauss Auto to establish an EV plant in Karachi

ISLAMABAD: The 'Gauss Auto Group,’ a Chinese corporation, has announced plans to build an electric vehicle (EV) plant in Pakistan's special economic zone near Port Qasim in Karachi.

The company would enter into a joint venture (JV) with AKD Group Holdings (Pvt) limited, and export their locally produced EVs from Pakistan to other countries. The plant would span roughly 1,000 acres. The company made this announcement during a meeting with Federal Minister Board of Investment (BOI) Chaudhry Salik Hussain and BOI Secretary Fareena Mazhar.

A delegation led by Gauss Auto Group CEO Chen Feng and AKD Group Holding CEO Nasir Rizwan, visited the BOI.

The company delivered a comprehensive presentation of their production plant and apprised the federal investment office of the variants of the vehicles they were already producing.

Gauss Auto is an enterprise focusing on the innovation and development of automobiles and integrating resources. It is registered in Silicon Valley, California, and operates in Shanghai, China.

The Gauss Auto Group partner is the British CCA company, RML, German EDAG, Italian IDG, and other well-known vehicle styling design, engineering development, and manufacturing companies, as well as engineers, designers, and marketing experts in the field of new energy vehicles from Audi, Ford, Tesla and the US Department of Energy.

Fareena Mazhar briefed the delegation about Pakistan’s recently launched Electric Vehicle Policy, which benefits both existing and new entrants in the country’s auto sector.

The delegation was also informed about Pakistan’s liberal investment regime, which treats foreign and local investors equally.

All economic sectors are open to foreign direct investment (FDI) except for a few specified restricted industries like arms and ammunition, explosives, radioactive substances, currency, etc.

Minister and secretary encouraged Gauss Auto Group to invest in the auto sector of Pakistan, and they extended maximum support and facilitation to the company.

To cater to their technical queries about the government’s EV Policy and to subsequently materialise their manufacturing plant on AKD Holding’s land in Karachi.

The BOI has also scheduled a meeting with Engineering Development Board (EDB) CEO on Friday (today) to discuss further technicalities and requirements for establishing the plant.