Sazgar to open booking of ‘HAVAL’ in Pakistan from today

KARACHI: The largest rikshaw maker in Pakistan Sazgar Tuesday announced that it will start booking of Chinese brand Haval through its dealers in Pakistan from today.

The company is going to launch 2.0 or 2000cc Haval H6 and 1500cc Turbo Jolion in Pakistan, it announced at PSX website through a notice. The two five-seater crossover SUVs will compete with Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson, Proton X70, DFSK Glory 580, and MG HS.

Sazgar had already announced its plans to enter Pakistan’s car market with another Chinese carmaker BAIC D20 that has a hatchback and a sedan version. It also plans to launch a crossover X25 and an off-roader SUV BJ40-Plus.

According to the company’s details on its website, the Chinese Haval is one of the market leaders in China in the SUV segment and leads ahead of Hyundai and MG Motors. It is a subsidiary of Great Wall Motors and focuses on SUVs and pickups.

Sazgar is a listed company at PSX and prides itself on exporting three-wheelers to 20 countries, including Japan.

The company may start selling its locally assembled ‘Haval’ cars as the company has the capacity to produce 24,000 cars annually.

The company will be assembling the cars in Pakistan under its green-field status, which it received under the government’s Auto Development Policy 2016-21.

Initially, the industry was expecting that companies with the green-field status must launch their cars by the end of the fiscal year 2021 in June to avail the incentives given in the policy.

The government has launched the policy to attract foreign investment and help increase competition in the auto sector, which has long been dominated by Japanese carmakers Suzuki, Toyota, and Honda.

Apart from Sazgar, nearly a dozen companies have received the green-field status, including United Motors, KIA, Regal Motors, Changan, MG Motors, Proton, Volkswagen and Hyundai.

“There was little acceptability for new brands among the Pakistani people in the past,” said Research Analyst “But that attitude is now changing as new companies are launching cars with way more features as compared to cars of established players in the country in similar price brackets.”

“I think new car companies such as Sazgar-Haval, who are coming in the high-end segment will mostly hurt Honda sales. Toyota will not be affected because of its comparatively low-priced parts and resale value while Suzuki caters the hatchback segment, which new companies have largely been ignoring,” he explained.

The stock price of Sazgar stood at Rs 171 today. It rose Rs 25 in last one months.

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