Chery Tiggo becomes 12th locally assembled SUV in Pakistan

KARACHI: Ghandhara Nissan Limited (GNL) on Saturday announced opening of bookings for SUVs Chery Tiggo 4 and 8 Pro in Karachi, with a price tag of Rs4.6 million and Rs6.6 million.

The company partnered with Chinese Chery Automobile Co Ltd. for local assembly and distribution of Tiggo series sports utility vehicles (SUVs) last year.

GNL said it had started assembling of the SUVs and would be delivering first batch of the vehicles in April and May. Tiggo 4 is a 1.5L Turbo five-seater vehicle, while Tiggo 8 is a 1.6 Turbo seven-seater SUV. Before the Auto Development Policy (ADP) 2016-21, Toyota Fortuner and BR-V were the only locally assembled SUVs. However, nearly a dozen SUVs were introduced after the auto industry was enabled by the government’s policy. Kia Sportage, Sorento, Stonic, Peugeot 2008, Hyundai Tucson, Changan Oshan X7, DFSK Glory, BAIC BJ 40, and Haval SUVs are being assembled in the country. However, GNL doesn’t have greenfield or brownfield status under the policy.

Zain Afzal, director marketing and sales GNL, said assembling of Chery SUVs had started at its Port Qasim plant. He claimed during price reveal and booking commencement ceremony, they had received requests for booking of 3000 units.

Khalid Mehr, director sales commercial vehicles GNL, said they had an annual capacity of 16,000 units on single shift basis.

He added that they were contributing with 250 units per month, which would gradually be increased. It was informed that GNL would be investing $10 million over the first four years.

COO of World Automobiles, GNL authorized dealers, Anas Mehmood Trunkwala highlighted salient features of the SUV and showed his satisfaction about its price. “The SUVs’ price is competitive and features are unmatchable.” They were upbeat to capture a big pie of the SUV market.

Shahzaib Mehmood Trunkwala, president, World Group said booking of the SUV was on a “first come first serve” basis. “Soon, we will launch Chery in Islamabad.”

The SUV segment has the highest number of options available at the moment. The industry believes the high-price tag segment might capture the biggest pie of the auto market – at 37 percent approximately by 2030.