The sudden increase of prices in Pakistan has left everyone surprised. From the GST on clothing to speculations of raising prices in roti, the plunging economy of Pakistan has left businesses and individuals from different social classes surprised.
Speaking of businesses, the automobile industry in Pakistan is a growing industry. However, the big players are now revolting against the current economic situations as well.
Honda Atlas and Indus Motors Halt Productions for a Few Days In Protest
HACP, also known as Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan decided to shut down its plant on Friday for the next 10 days. The inventories at HACP has piled up to 2000 unites due to the decreasing number of car sales in Pakistan, all due to the increases prices and higher taxes in addition to the devaluation of the Pakistani rupee. Honda had its plant closed for 2 days in this week.
On the other hand, Indus Motor Company (IMC), the makers of Toyota vehicles in Pakistan, also halted its production for 8 days due to the similar reasons.
Based on these reasons and speculations regarding the economy of Pakistan, Suzuki Motor Company states that the company will be taking the decision regarding their situation in this coming week. The spokesperson stated that this decision will be taken after the company has analyzed the trend of sales and booking flow.
“Our inventories from the last month and the first 10 days of July have grown rapidly because of steep increase in car prices after currency devaluation as well as imposition of Advance Customs Duty (ACD) on all our imports and Federal Excise Duty (FED) on assembled cars, leaving us with no option but to shut down the plant to cut production. If the present trend holds, we expect our sales to drop to less than 30,000 units this business year (April 2019-March 2020) from over 48,000 units last year,” said the senior executive of HACP in an interview.
Pakistanis Share a Mixed Response to the Actions By these Automobile Giants
So what if Honda and Toyota are slowing down in Pakistan? We're aiming to recreate the Medina state – where there were no cars.
— Jahanzeb Hussain (@hussainjahanzeb) July 13, 2019
Points to Ponder
Honda and Indus shut down their factories. Traders on strike. On top of rising unemployment, prices of medicine, electricity and bread reaching unbearable levels. This is not an economic strategy but an all-out attack on ordinary people.https://t.co/sPalhf2VgE
— Ammar Ali Jan (@ammaralijan) July 13, 2019
And Here’s This
Honda and Toyota Decided to Stop manufacturing of vehicle for ten Days.#NayaPakistanNaManzoor
— Muhammad Ali (@AliAwan_6) July 13, 2019
So let’s see the actions that the government takes regarding these situations.
