LAHORE: The automobiles assemblers have urged the government to probe the misuse of the amnesty schemes for the imports of used cars.
“This misuse is also resulting in huge losses to the national kitty,” Pakistan Automobiles Assemblers Dealers Association (PAMADA) Chairman Iqbal Shah. “Smuggled and non-duty paid vehicles are a very small part of illegal car imports and if the government is serious in countering this trend, it should stop the misuse of used cars import schemes.”
“This is because such imports are increasing continuously as more than 54,000 units were imported in 2015-16 as compared to 30,000 units in the corresponding period of the last year,” he elaborated.
He added the numbers of used cars being imported under different schemes were still on the rise as more than 8,500 such vehicles were imported during just two months of the current financial year.
According to details, approximately 4,440 vehicles were imported in July 2016 and 4,076 in August 2016.
The break-up of these vehicles shows that 4,471 of these were below 800cc, 1584 between 800cc and 1000cc, 1549 between 1500cc and 1800cc while 912 vehicles of 1800cc (Luxury, SUVs, trucks, busses and LCVs).
Shah added that in the last 10 years, over 300,000 used vehicles had made their way to the country, capturing a prominent chunk of the market, while the surge in their imports was also responsible, to some extent, for the closure of plants of Hyundai, Nissan, Chevrolet, Fiat and Adam.
“The vehicles are imported as a non-commercial commodity and then openly sold against hard cash in the market. At an average value of Rs1.5 million per used car, this activity had generated grey economy of over Rs80 billion in 2015 alone,” he added.
