First Pakistan-assembled Chinese car up for sale

KARACHI: Al-Haj FAW Motors on Saturday rang the curtain up on its much-awaited 1300CC FAW V2, the first Chinese hatchback passenger car completely assembled in Pakistan. 

“Our vehicles bring another category in the market where we provide luxury features of a car at affordable prices,” said Bilal Afridi, managing director Al-Haj FAW Motors, addressing the launching ceremony at the company’s plant.  “We are now being recognised for quality, economy and technological brilliance. Our products ranging from heavy vehicles to light vehicles cater every need of our commercial and domestic sector and we are rapidly gaining people’s trust.” 

FAW is the fastest growing Chinese automotive company formed in collaboration with Al-Haj in 2007.

The 50,000-sq-m factory of more than 600 employees, located in Zulfiqarabad on National Highway, has a capacity of building 10,000 units a year in a single shift.  

Moving ahead, Afridi also mentioned the initial investment of Rs2.5 billion was made to set up the company and a further investment of Rs1.3 billion was also being made for an improved local assembly setup and paint technology in their cars. 

“As a result of a good response and with the encouragement of our customers, we are adding to our investment in new assembling process and ED paint technology to improve quality of our vehicles,” he said. 

By the end of 2017, he said, FAW was expected to produce 500 V2 units a month.

“We have further plans to export our right-hand-drive cars in China and other international markets,” Afridi said. 

FAW, in a statement, claimed that their local assembly would help it serve its customers better and give them quality assurance of the vehicles. 

“The company aims to increase their production to 15,000 units per annum by year 2020 and introduce new models in Pakistan,” the company said.

It said the V2, currently being imported as Completely Built Unit (CBU), has gained a satisfactory reputation in Pakistan. 

“A locally assembled V2 will likely mean lower prices compared to the CBU, while a lower displacement engine will also reduce taxation and registration costs,” the statement added.