Government unveils auto policy with focus on cheaper cars and EVs
Information Minister Attaullah Tarrar and adviser Haroon Akhtar Khan said duties on built-up vehicles and assembly plants will fall each year for five years.
The federal government announced a new auto policy on Saturday aimed at lowering vehicle prices, promoting electric vehicles and strengthening local manufacturing, with duties on completely built vehicles and assembly plants set to fall every year for five years.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarrar and Haroon Akhtar Khan, adviser to the prime minister for industries and production, announced the policy at a press conference in Islamabad, and Akhtar said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had given the framework considerable time.
Akhtar said the policy rests on six priorities: affordable vehicles, particularly for middle and lower-middle income households; exports; local manufacturing; vehicle safety; electric mobility; and transparency. He said a lot of work had gone into drafting it.
The government has folded its wider tariff policy into the framework, Akhtar said, to cut production costs and reduce dependence on imported raw materials. Cheaper production would eventually bring vehicle prices down, and the tariff changes were designed to support manufacturers while making cars more affordable.
Duties on completely built vehicles and on assembly plants will decrease annually over the next five years under the schedule he described. The government expects the changes to create more competitive tariff conditions for the industry.
The framework also targets expanding vehicle exports and strengthening the domestic automotive industry, according to Daily Times.
Luxury vehicles will stay outside the planned price reductions. Electric vehicles are a separate priority alongside cheaper conventional cars, and the policy puts localisation at the centre of plans to strengthen domestic production.
No specific estimates of how far prices will fall and no implementation dates for the changes were announced, Daily Times reported.
How the reports differ
Dawn led on the policy's focus on cheaper vehicles and EVs and reported that it rests on six basic pillars, beginning with cheaper cars for the middle class. Daily Times listed all six priorities, including exports, vehicle safety and transparency, and reported that duties on completely built vehicles and assembly plants will fall annually over five years. Daily Times alone reported that luxury vehicles are excluded from the planned price cuts and that no specific price reduction estimates or implementation dates were given.
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