KARACHI: Lo and behold, prices of cars have been increased by the manufacturers, with the much hyped decrease lasting for about four months. The car manufacturers have cited the higher freight rates and rupee’s continued freefall in the interbank market as the primary reasons.
The prices of the locally manufactured cars and SUVs had been decreased by up to Rs. 4 lacs by various car manufacturers in July this year. However, the snowball effect of the increase in oil prices globally, can be felt in Pakistan as well where prices of basic commodities and luxuries have increased manifold in the last few weeks.
Lucky Motor Corporation Limited have hiked the prices of the local and imported vehicles by up to Rs. 5 lacs. Toyota Motors, on the other hand, have increased the prices of their products by approximately Rs. 6 lacs. Pak Suzuki have also inflated the prices of their products by Rs. 3 lacs.
The prices of 660cc cars were slashed earlier this year by the federal government amidst much fanfare. The government had announced then that it was doing so to facilitate the middle class so that it [middle class] could afford a car too. In a bid to reduce the imports, the government had also decided to stop the car financing on imported vehicles.
It had also decided to reduce the financing tenure from seven years, capping it to a maximum of five years.