ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Suzuki Motor Company, the largest assembler of automotive vehicles in Pakistan, has supported the opening of autoparts imports from India.
Suzuki’s stance is, however, being opposed by other major assemblers i.e. Indus Motors Limited- assemblers of Toyota and M/s Atlas Honda- manufacturers of Honda cars. Suzuki is operating under a Japanese management and supporting trade with India because the company claims to be committed to expanding its vehicle production in line with market demand.
“We are also committed to introducing newer vehicle models using latest technologies and to continue our plans for localisation of vehicle components. Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited & its vendor family believe in the tremendous opportunities offered by opening up of import of vehicles CKD kits from Indian counterparts,” said Hirofumi Nagao, MD & CEO Pak Suzuki Motors Limited, in a letter to Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif.
The company argues that all its vendors fully support the proposal and have joined as signatories to this proposal. The company has submitted the request to delete 6 HS Codes (being CKD kit parts only) from India trade negative list and, at the same time, itemised details of major benefits to Pakistan from importing CKD parts from India.