Automark

A Chinese technology company, Timesaco, plans to invest more than $600 million in Pakistan’s ailing public transportation sector, hoping to restructure and digitize it by imitating the Chinese model

“Our company is trying to restore and restructure Pakistan’s public transportation system by replicating the Chinese model that will enable the relevant authorities to track the movement of vehicles and ensure their punctuality,” Media Manager of Timesaco Asad Ullah said.
“The company intends to invest $600 million and this amount will increase with the scope of the business,” he added.

After launching “Tatu Mobility,” a transportation infrastructure network to promote the e-transportation sector business, in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Timesaco is now set to move to the country’s southern port city of Karachi.

“In the second week of February, we will go to Karachi to meet with officials of Sindh government, including the chief minister,” he said in an interview with Arab news on last week. “We are planning to launch the service in the third or fourth week of February 2020 in Karachi.” The company provides wide-ranging mobility services, such as taxi-hailing facility, pick and drop, bus booking, vehicle rental, and other related technological solutions.

Tatu Mobility will provide an IoT (internet of Things) based transportation network in which all existing private and public transportation networks will be restored, restructured and modified into IoT technology, he continued.

Currently, Timesaco is perusing two modes of investment: Under the first one, the company will invest itself while, under the second, it will persuade other companies to invest in the country’s transportation sector.

The company also plans to streamline the existing yellow cabs and traditional taxi services in Pakistan which were largely affected by the launch of ride-hailing services.

“Negotiations with big Chinese companies have already been held, and many big players have agreed to invest in Pakistan. A plan is being considered where people will get yellow cabs and traditional taxi services with the involvement of government and banks,” Asad Ullah noted.
On the materialization of the plan, the traditional cab services will be digitized and brought on par with online services that will enable them to double their revenue.

“Vehicles will be imported from China for this purpose initially. It will also create an opportunity for the Chinese auto manufacturers to enter the Pakistani market which will offer people more choice,” he said.

Asad Ullah maintained that the Chinese companies had been informed about the existing opportunities and were likely to come to Pakistan if they saw the potential to get enough return on investment.

“In the longer run, they may get convinced to start manufacturing in Pakistan. Our aim is also to bring such players into the Pakistani market,” he said.

The corona virus scare has finally made an impact in the moto-world, with Honda announcing extended closures of two motorcycle plants due to concerns over the flu virus.

To be clear, this isn’t as if Honda has shut down an operating factory—not exactly. Asian Review reports Honda’s factories in Tianjin and Taicang were already closed, due to the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, when many workers return home to be with their families. They were scheduled to re-open in early February, and that re-opening has been postponed until February 9 (unless the situation at that point requires otherwise, of course).

The closure could have a sizable impact on Honda’s output in China. Total annual production capacity for the Tianjin plant, situated in northern China, is 500,000 bikes a year. The Taicang plant, in eastern China, can build 350,000 bikes a year. The current coronavirus outbreak was originally centred around the city of Wuhan, but has allegedly spread throughout the rest of mainland China, although not to the same concentration. Current reports say there are about 7,000 infected in China. A few dozen cases have been reported in other countries.

Honda’s move comes as transportation manufacturers are looking carefully at all their production facilities in China. Honda’s also closed auto plants in China, as have Peugeot, Toyota and Ford. It also comes as the Chinese motorcycle industry was set to start several new partnership with high-end western brands: KTM, Harley-Davidson and MV Agusta all planned to start selling made-in-China motorcycles in the coming months. It will be interesting to see how this situation affects those plans, as well as the availability of made-in-China components that are already a key part of many new motorcycles, no matter where they’re finally assembled.

It revives car marque in Malaysia in two years, now aims to expand

KUALA LUMPUR • Mr Li Chunrong was hired by Chinese carmaker Geely to revive the fortunes of the Proton brand in Malaysia, and it took him two years to eclipse Japanese giants Honda and Toyota. Now he plans to take the fight across South-east Asia and beyond.

Mr Li, appointed Proton chief executive in 2017 when Geely acquired 49.9 per cent of the company, has turned around a once-celebrated Malaysian marque that had to rely on state aid after a string of losses, with his success built on an aggressive cost-cutting drive.
Geely has told the Proton boss to expand across the region, initially focusing on Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, Mr Li told Reuters – the first time concrete details of the brand’s expansion plans have been disclosed.

Like Malaysia, they are right-hand-drive markets, so they require fewer car modifications.
Proton also aims to drive into the Middle East and increase sales to Egypt, said the 56-year-old Chinese national.

Mr Li said Proton wanted to raise overseas sales – which stood at about 1,000 cars last year, or 1 per cent of total sales – at least fourfold this year.

The brand wants 40 per cent of its sales to come from foreign markets by 2027, he told Reuters in two interviews, identifying Thailand and Indonesia as the key markets, but declining to outline his strategy to crack them.
“We have a good foundation,” he said. “We commit that, every year, we will launch a new model.”

The Asean region of more than 500 million people is promising territory; car sales are forecast by consultancy IHS Markit to grow at a compound annual rate of 3 per cent in the period from 2016 to this year, compared with a 1 per cent drop globally.

But IHS said Proton was still a small player compared with the Japanese brands, and it could struggle to compete. Asean sales are led by Toyota with a 30 per cent market share, Honda with 13 per cent and Mitsubishi with 10 per cent, according to the consultancy.
Proton is in 11th place with about 3 per cent, mainly from Malaysia.

Proton’s goals are ambitious, and it may not have the production capacity to make inroads regionally, said Ms Mayuree Chaiyuthanaporn, a senior IHS analyst.
Proton, majority-owned by Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom, has launched products at breakneck speed in its home market. It dropped many old models the first year of the joint venture, then launched six new ones within eight months, including the X70 sport utility vehicle, based on Geely’s Boyue.

Proton became the second-largest car seller with a 16.7 per cent share last year – when it made its first profit in about nine years – climbing above Honda and Toyota from fourth position.

Mr Li said Proton could beat Malaysia’s top seller Perodua, backed by Japan’s Daihatsu, by 2022 – five years ahead of the target announced after Geely’s investment.

Proton has increasingly switched to sourcing cheaper components from China, and let go of many small Malaysian local distributors, stoking some resentment.

The turnaround under Mr Li has forced Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a car aficionado, to reverse his initial opposition to Geely’s investment in Proton.

“Now, it’s selling 100,000 cars and it’s making profit,” Tun Dr Mahathir, whose fleet of cars now includes a red X70, told reporters this month. “Why? Because of management, because of good technology.”
REUTERS