[itinerant]

Very interesting.

I think one way to explain the absence of any hatchback segment to speak of in Pakistan would be to consider the fact that Pakistan has a minuscule middle class. While the rich- top ranked army and civil service officers, traders big land owners- prefer imported SUVs, mid range government employees, small traders and so on depend on cars built in Pakistan. The number of this second category is nothing compared to India.

[CarCynic]

As others have pointed out, the new car sales don't paint an accurate picture of their market. I suggest everyone to take a look at this used car classified on Pakwheels.com

http://www.pakwheels.com/used-cars/s...red_1/?nf=true

[Rajeevraj]

Update on Pakistan Sales for 2015

Pakistan vehicle sales in 2015 created an all time record. Crossing 200,000 units for the first time. In 2015, 220,485 units were sold, up 56% from 2014. This does not include the new imported vehicles which were in the range of ~50,000 and also does not include used car imports.

Suzuki, Toyota and Honda continued their monopoly over the market. The Toyota Corolla emerged the Top Selling car by a wide margin (~27% Market Share).

Detailed numbers and top sellers

Source: Focus2Move

[Revmatch99]

Originally Posted by yrwagh

Very nice thread ! One thing I noticed, in couple of pictures I was a Isuzu V cross like pick-up truck. Interestingly we dont see those many in India. How did you find the overall automobiles differentiation there ? Like us dominated by Marutis, hatchbacks or SUVs on the other hand ?

I have the same questions, from what I've seen in car pages of Pakistan like this https://www.instagram.com/ridepeshawarofficial/ and from what I've heard from people is that there are quite a few JDM imports and much better tuning scene and car culture in Pakistan than in India.

[avishar]

Originally Posted by Revmatch99

I have the same questions, from what I've seen in car pages of Pakistan like this https://www.instagram.com/ridepeshawarofficial/ and from what I've heard from people is that there are quite a few JDM imports and much better tuning scene and car culture in Pakistan than in India.

This is true. The tuning and car culture is pretty good, from again what I have seen on Insta. Some very tasteful and expensive mod jobs.



And I think there is a reason for that. Unlike India, Pakistan is always open for car imports. So every year thousands of cars, many of them "reconditioned" cars, from Japan, MiddleEast and even UK are shipped to Pakistan. This has reduced in the last 2 yrs or so since they are trying to cut down on imports.





Infact even if you look at some of the Pakistan's vintage and classic car rallies, some of the stuff they have is pretty damn good. In India between independence and early 90s, we lived like a Soviet planned economy, closed to imports while our neighbours did not have such restrictions and therefore lots of nice stuff made their way into the country during that period. Finding classic cars from the 70s and 80s is rare in India, while in Pakistan Japanese sportscars, American muscle cars and boatloads of Landcruisers made their way there.

However when it comes to modern stuff, there isn't many there. Like the numbers of modern day Ferraris, Porsche 911s and Lamborbhinis will maybe be 10-20. Not like the 100-150 plus examples of each supercar make in India. It is too expensive and there is not much of a market for these cars there.

[Revmatch99]

Originally Posted by avishar

And I think there is a reason for that. Unlike India, Pakistan is always open for car imports. So every year thousands of cars, many of them "reconditioned" cars, from Japan, MiddleEast and even UK are shipped to Pakistan. This has reduced in the last 2 yrs or so since they are trying to cut down on imports.

Infact even if you look at some of the Pakistan's vintage and classic car rallies, some of the stuff they have is pretty damn good. In India between independence and early 90s, we lived like a Soviet planned economy, closed to imports while our neighbours did not have such restrictions and therefore lots of nice stuff made their way into the country during that period. Finding classic cars from the 70s and 80s in rare in India, while in Pakistan Japanese sportscars, American muscle cars and boatloads of Landcruisers made their way there.

However when it comes to modern stuff, there isn't many there. Like modern Ferraris, Porsche, Lamborbhinis. Not like the 100-150 plus examples of each supercar make in India. It is too expensive and there is not much of a market for these cars in there.

Yup the import restrictions really hurt the car scene in India, we could've had so many JDM imports and with that much better tuning culture, but we're stuck here driving and modifying 1.0L shopping carts.

[avishar]

Originally Posted by Revmatch99

Yup the import restrictions really hurt the car scene in India, we could've had so many JDM imports and with that much better tuning culture, instead we're here driving 1.0L shopping carts.

Well it has its trade-offs. I am of the opinion our automotive policies are not that bad. It took some generations but it forced carmakers to manufacturer here in scale, make prices competitive and industry cuthroat or else we would also be driving around in Toyota imports and CKDs from South Asia. The culmination of that is something like a car exclusively designed for India by a global MNC, which most MNCs are happy to invest in programmes like that. On the other hand those poor folks across the border instead have to survive on these in 2020. And the Maruti 800 literally I think stopped production last year.




In Indian money these Citys are like 12-14 lakhs!



Little or no standards when it comes to safety equipment or fuel quality (Pakistan environmental standard for cars is at Euro-2 for now).

It is therefore not suprising that a 90s Corolla still commands a lot of money in the second hand market in Pakistan.

[Revmatch99]

Originally Posted by avishar

Well it has its trade-offs. I am of the opinion our automotive policies are not that bad. It took some generations but it forced carmakers to manufacturer here in scale, make prices competitive and industry cuthroat or else we would also be driving around in Toyota imports and CKDs from South Asia.

Local production is good but rules like sub 4m and 1.2L are stupid, the import duties are ridiculous and the car import laws are also confusing, we need less of these stupid restrictions. I understand they're trying to promote local production but India is really restrictive when it comes to import of cars.

[ron178]

Pakistan will prohibit the sale of cars without frontal airbags from July 2022.

Link to Tweet by UN Economic Commission

It is not clear whether Pakistan will adopt the UN's fundamental crash test regulations for frontal impact (ECE Reg. 94) along with the decision.

[volkman10]

Pakistan sales in 2024, Suzuki dominates.

[khanak]

I would have expected Chinese companies to have a much bigger marketshare in Pakistan. Also surprised to see there aren't more entry level cars given how well the Alto is doing there (relatively at least).

EDIT - The % by which their sales are increasing suggests that the Chinese will have the market cornered in no time.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Pakistan sales in 2024, Suzuki dominates.

Attachment 2735690

Attachment 2735691

Thank you @volkman10 for sharing this data. Where sharing interesting and eye opening data goes you are the best writer on team BHP and I mean that very sincerely.

Very interesting. Pakistan's total car sales seems to be around 1.5 lakhs versus India's 42.2 lakhs. Oops. Message to self - I should not gloat.

[ike]

Originally Posted by Balaji31582

apologies if i have missed reading something in between, why we aren't seeing any TATAs or Mahindras? is that specifically a political decision taken or a business decision?

Originally Posted by airbender

Indian companies are not allowed to sell in pak.

Even if Indian companies were allowed to sell in Pakistan, the cars would probably be CBU and will attract huge duties making them unattractive price wise. For a relatively small market like Pakistan, I don't see Indian OEMs setting up production there. Of course this is completely ignoring the geopolitical situation. Maybe as the others have pointed out the Chinese OEMs will become dominant players in the market but given the poor energy situation in Pakistan, I wonder if the EVs will get off the ground.

[It's Magic]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Pakistan sales in 2024, Suzuki dominates.

Most of the top 10 cars are either hatchbacks or sedans. It seems that the SUV craze has not yet reached Pakistan.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by It's Magic

Most of the top 10 cars are either hatchbacks or sedans. It seems that the SUV craze has not yet reached Pakistan.

Im given to understand that their roads are excellent. And that the traffic sense is good because they abide by the rules a lot more than we do here in India.

Possibly for them, there is no need to buy an SUV with a commanding view and high ground clearance because of the above.

It is possible therefore that they are just being more sensible than we are, about the kinds of cars they drive, considering that they also have crowded cities and narrow lanes to navigate, just as we do.

Its no wonder that Suzuki and its wonderful little Kei cars have been doing well there for years and continue to do well.

In fact Pakistan actually awarded Mr Osamu Suzuki-San their Star of Pakistan long before we gave him our Padma Bhushan Award.