Indus Motor Company hosted a media briefing highlighting the current scenario of the auto industry - Mar 17, 2006 Indus Motor Company hosted a media briefing highlighting the current scenario of the auto industry, its issues and the future outlook. The briefing emphasized the need for a clear long term policy for the auto sector including the need to restrict import of used cars, saying that used car imports would cause irreversible damage to the auto industry and could lead to closure of the local auto manufacturing plants as has been the case in New Zealand. Parvez Ghias, CEO IMC said that Pakistan auto industry, despite the growth in the last three years is still in the infancy stage with current annual production hovering around 220,000 cars per year. In order to cross the target of 500,000 cars per year by 2010 and eventually reach motorisation levels similar to countries in the region like China, India, Sri Lanka, Iran, etc, the Pakistani auto industry needs a long term, consistent policy. The cornerstone of this policy should be the restriction on the import of used cars, introduction of a tariff based system that is WTO compliant, encouragement of further investment by auto manufacturers and vendors and continuation of the transfer of technology. He also emphasized the need for complete documentation of all car selling and buying transactions, for both new and used cars, to remove the menace of premiums. Mr Parvez Ghias mentioned that on one hand the auto industry and its vendors are working overtime and have doubled their capacity in the last 3 years, on the other hand, there has been a dramatic increase in the imports of used cars. Imports of cars could cross 43,000 in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006 and used car imports may be around 30,000. Now financing and leasing of used cars has also started and its impact may raise the imports of used cars to 40,000 and if this trend continues, the imports of used cars may reach 70,000 in 2006-07. It seems that the objective of helping overseas Pakistanis in sending cars to their families is being defeated as most imports of used cars and their sale in Pakistan is being handled by car importers and roadside car dealers. If car purchase transactions are fully documented, then these would bring additional revenue to the government. Besides, only those vehicles should be imported that have warranties and whose spare parts and maintenance facilities are locally available so that customers do not face problems. In the end, Mr Ghias presented his view of the Pakistan auto industry for the year 2020. He mentioned that if government policies are conducive and consistent, by 2020, InshaAllah, auto manufacturers and vendors could increase investment to Rs 500 billion producing about 1 million cars, have over 1.5 million jobs, and could provide government revenues of about Rs 250 billion. But to implement this plan an urgent review and realignment of the government’s vision and policies for the auto sector is imperative.