Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (Paapam) has welcomed the government decision to reduce the age limit of imported used cars from five to three years.
Talking to Business Recorder here on Thursday, Paapam Vice Chairman Usman Malik said Paapam had been struggling for reduction in the age limit of used cars from three to five years for a long time as it was having adverse effects on the local auto industry and exhausting precious foreign exchange of the country.
He said Paapam thanked Deputy Prime Minister/Senior Minister for Industries Pervez Elahi for taking personal interest in reduction of import of used cars that had flooded the local market with old cars. The measure would surely provide relief to the local auto vendors industry, he added.
Welcoming the government's decision former Paapam Chief Malik Mohammad Aslam said, "Though it is a belated step, yet efforts of Deputy Prime Minister Perez Elahi to limit the import of used cars from five years to three years against heavy odds and vested interest were highly appreciable. He said there was no doubt that influx of the used car in the Pakistan market had depressed the multi-billion local auto manufacturing and its vendor industry and threatened the livelihood of 3.5 million workers and skilled labour force.
He demanded that the import of cars of all makes/ages be totally banned so that Pakistan should be turned into a manufacturing state rather than a trading state. He pointed out that the import of used cars had not brought down the prices of automobiles in the domestic market as envisaged by the policy makers. Malik Aslam opined that the prices of cars and other automobiles could only be decreased by complete localisation and indigenisation of the auto industry.
He suggested that the government should impress upon the car assemblers/ manufacturers to purchase at least 90 percent of the auto parts from the domestic manufacturers. "The prices of locally manufactured tractors are the lowest in the region just because ninety percent indigenisation of the tractor auto parts," he added.