In the past decade, the demand of imported cars has grown to an immense level, giving a tough time to the local manufacturers, who once used to enjoy the monopoly of selling their cars with whatever they had to offer. Now, with the technological advancement and a vast variety of substitutes available, the local manufacturers are facing a hard time keeping up with the market.
This article highlights the prominent facts which make the buyer more inclined towards a used imported car rather than a brand new locally manufactured one.
Imported cars, though they’re used, still have more value for your cash compared to a local one. For reference, let’s make a comparison. In the budget of 2 million rupees, the local automakers only 2 choices, while the imported used cars market offer at least 6 choices.
In imports, you can get the fuel saving hybrids with all latest gadgets and safety options, and in locals, you get the older technology equipped Honda City or Toyota Corolla. Not that they are bad cars, but they are expensive and do not offer the same value for money like the imported ones offer. In simple words, the locally available cars are over-priced and under-equipped vehicles.
Let’s take the same cars we’ve discussed above and squeeze them a bit more. The locally assembled cars offer no airbags, average in-car-entertainment systems, manual air conditioning systems, limited and manual seat adjustments and a few more features, which can be ignored, but they still matter. The imports, on the other hand have a lot more to offer than these local ones, and that too with a superior material and build quality. They are equipped with over 6 airbags, Assisted Anti-Lock Braking (ABS) systems, great in-car-entertainment systems, and almost everything is electrically controlled including the air-conditioning.
In the Hybrid car category of the imports, the fuel consumption is cut to half of as compared to the local ones. Moreover, they still cost less than the new ones, because you don’t get to pay the recently introduced ‘sales tax’ which varies upon engine capacity.
In a nutshell, it is clear why the imported used cars are taking over the roads of Pakistan, because in this age of technology, the average buyer if well informed and know that imports offer much more value and squeeze more out of the money spent on them when compared to the locally assembled cars, all while knowing and not caring that the imported cars are actually used cars.
Author Bio:
Fahad Mehmood is a keen car enthusiast and a photographer by profession. He’s been an active PakWheels member since the beginning. When he’s not writing about cars, he’s shooting people and things with his camera.
