Qadir Engineering launches the first 200cc dumper in Pakistan, they have branded it as SIWA. It was on display in PAPS Autoshow 2018.
Qadir Engineering is a manufacturer and assembler of Aluminium High Pressure Die-Casting & Sheet Metal Parts.
Renault to Establish Assembly Plant in Faisalabad
In November 2017, Renault and Al-Futtaim officially declared that they have signed definitive agreements for the exclusive assembly and distribution of Renault branded vehicles in Pakistan.
The French automaker was earlier in talks with Ghandhara Nissan Company but the deal couldn’t shape up. Later in December 2017, Al-Futtaim indicated to begin construction of their assembly plant in Karachi in 2018, while intended to sell their assembled models starting from 2019.
In a recent development, the company has reportedly inked a direct investment agreement worth $150 million to construct an automobile manufacturing plant in M3 Industrial Area Faisalabad, instead of Karachi. According to sources, the Government of Punjab is offering cheaper land to French automaker to establish its plant in the province.
Previously, Renault while in talks with Ghandhara, indicated to begin their operations in Pakistan with the Duster SUV, however now that the French automaker has teamed up with Al-Futtaim, we will have to wait to see which vehicles they introduce here in Pakistan. Better still, we can have a look at the possible options Renault might launch in Pakistan.
Automark magazine had break this news on last week just after agreements signed between Al-Futtaim and management of M3 industrial zone in Faisalabad.
Dewan’s New Daehan 2018 Shehzore Pickup launched in Pakistan
Dewan has launched new Daehan Shehzore 1.5-ton pickup at the Mohatta Palace Museum Karachi on 25th Febuary-2018, marking its return in the vehicle production market.
In the last decade, Shehzore was a famous commercial vehicle. In between 1996-2004, the third generation of Hyundai Porter or H100 was produced globally. Then now finally Shehzore is back with the fourth generation Porter. The pickup will have Deahan engine and will be quite similar to Hyundai H100.
Dewan Muhammad Yousuf Farooqui, Chairman Yousuf Dewan companies, Mr. Sei-Young Oh, Chairman & CEO Kolao Group, other team member of Kolao group from Korea, whole marketing and management team were also present at the occasion while Minister of Interior Mr. Ashan Iqbal was the chief guest of the event. All the prestigious guest from auto industry and business community was witness the launching ceremony.
The diesel engine of the vehicle is 2.6 liter. It comes with air-conditioning, stereo, power windows, power steering and much more.
The price of new 2018 Shehzore pickup in not announced yet. The expected price of the pickup is PKR 1799,000/- Under the Brownfield Category from Engineering Development Board (EDB) Dewan has received approval to start vehicle production in Pakistan.
After the Shehzore pickup is launched the company is ready to introduce Sports Utility Vehicle and passenger cars for the people. The return of Dewan Motors in Pakistan is in collaboration with and Laos-based Kolao Group, the agreement is with Daehan-Dewan Motor Company Private Limited.
In 2016 the news came that Dewan Farooque Motors Limited (DFML) is about to re-launch it’s popular and very successful medium-sized truck Shehzore and finally we have the news that Dewan Daehan Shehzore Pickup has launched.
GREE & Eco-Star are the main sponsors of Lahore Qalandars in PSL 2018
Lahore: 21st February, 2018 – Gree& EcoStar has recently become the title sponsors of ‘Lahore Qalandars’ – one of the best teams competing in Pakistan Super League (PSL) Season 2018.The Lahore Qalandars team is led by legendary New Zealand Cricketer Brendon McCullum and consists of many other famous players. Official press conference and signing ceremony held at Dubai last evening. CEO Muhammad Farooq Naseem, COO Rizwan Butt and Director Zaka Naseem of Gree& EcoStar also attended Press Conference. They showed great support for team and wished captain for a great captaincy and advised other team players to promote true spirit of game and discipline.
Gree and EcoStar’s support is extremely valuable in promoting cricket in Pakistan with enthusiastic participation of international players. DWP group will continue to support many kinds of sports in the country. It wishes best of luck to the‘LahoreQalandars’. Gree and Eco-Star have a tradition to regularly participate in many vibrant social festivals, technology exhibitions and other social events, to introduce pioneering technologies and create awareness among the consumers all over Pakistan. As a large number of consumers and families will be excited to watch the matches at home or at the stadium, this initiative will contribute towards providing a healthy entertainment experience for the masses.
Japan’s Honda to recall 350,000 cars in China over engine issue
Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T) will recall roughly 350,000 vehicles in China to resolve a cold-climate engine issue and quell a barrage of customer complaints that has hit the automaker over the past month.
The recall involves the CR-V sport utility vehicle and the Civic car equipped with a 1.5-litre turbo engine, Honda’s joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd (0489.HK) said in a statement on Monday.
The company is calling back those cars to resolve a problem caused by an unusual amount of un-combusted petrol collecting in the engine’s lubricant oil pan.
The issue in some cases caused a strong odor of gasoline inside the car and in other cases the car’s check-engine light came on. Honda and Dongfeng plan to resolve the issue by updating the engine’s gasoline injection control software.
Honda officials said there had been no reports of accidents. They said the engine oil issue doesn’t affect the engine or the car’s performance.
The measure comes after CR-V and Civic owners turned to the Weibo microblog – China’s Twitter equivalent – and other means to air their complaints since mid January.
The recall points to an emerging pattern in China where customer complaints spiral out of control as they are aired out on Weibo, forcing an automaker to respond.
Years ago the kind of recall Honda announced on Monday could have been dealt through a so-called customer service action, industry officials and experts say. That refers to what the auto industry calls a “quiet recall”, which is less damaging financially and image-wise, where an automaker fixes a non-safety issue, often free of charge, whenever the customer comes to the dealership.
“Without Weibo, it would have gone on for years,” said James Chao, chief automotive analyst for IHS Markit in the Asia-Pacific region. “That’s the way it was for the industry in the pre-Weibo, pre-Twitter era.”
Honda did not say the scale of the move in its statement, but a Beijing-based spokesman and other company officials said Honda and its joint venture partner are likely to call back roughly 350,000 vehicles. “We’re still trying to determine the precise number of cars affected,” the spokesman said.
Normally un-combusted petrol ends up accumulated in the lubricant oil pan but evaporates under heat from the engine. Such evaporated petrol is by design put back into the engine combustion chamber as fuel.
The issue involving the CR-V and the Civic has occurred in northern China where temperatures can dip well below the freezing point and when drivers of the affected vehicles drive short distances frequently.
On short runs, Honda engineers believe the engine doesn’t warm up enough to help un-combusted petrol accumulated in the lubricant oil pan to evaporate.
Source: REUTERS
Who is the actual owner of Hyundai H-100 in Pakistan Nishat or Dewan?
The ground breaking ceremony of the Hyundai – Nishat vehicle assembly plant at Faisalabad’s M-3 Industrial City took place in last December 2017. The local production of vehicles is expected to begin within two years. Hyundai – Nishat Motors signed an investment agreement with the Ministry of Industries and Production under the Automotive Development Policy 2016 – 21 in early December 2017 to set up a Green Field project to undertake assembly and sale of passenger cars and one-ton commercial vehicles.
The groundbreaking was performed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The venture sees an investment of US $230 Million as the plant will initially produce 7,000 vehicles by 2020 and will enhance its production to 30,000 units by year 2023. Hyundai – Nishat intends to launch a range of vehicles from hatchbacks, sedans & SUVs to commercial vehicles. Three vehicles were displayed during the event, namely Hyundai Tucson, Hyundai H-1 van and Hyundai H – 100 pickup. (The latest version of Hyundai Commercial Pickup known as Shehzore in Pakistan).
On the other hand Dewan Farooque Motors Limited (DFML) is expected to resume vehicle production in Pakistan from February 2018 as it has received approval under Brownfield Category from the Engineering Development Board (EDB). Initially, the company will re-launch its popular Shehzore’s one-ton pickup trucks, which saw tremendous success in our market during the previous decade. Dewan also plans to roll out passenger cars and a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) after the re-launch of Shehzore.Dewan Farooque Motors is returning to the scene with a manufacturing agreement with Daehan-Dewan Motor Company Private Limited – a joint venture between DewanYousuf Companies and the Laos-based Kolao Group.
The above situation is very interesting and rather confusing for automobile industry because both companies will use Hyundai brand engines for their commercial pickups i.e. Nishat H–100 and Dewan’s Shehzore. Our sources revealed that both groups, Nishat and Dewan are ready to fight each other on this issue. We tried to obtain official reaction / statement of both groups on this issue but failed. However we gathered some information through our own resources and would like to share with our readers.
Our reliable sources says that that expiry date of the agreement between Laos based Kolao Group and Dewan Group of Pakistan was 30th December 2017,which is already expired and Dewan Group can only assemble the CKD Kit which they have already imported and kept in to custom bonded warehouse. The quantity of these CKD units are around 300 to 400. After that Dewan Group may not be able to supply / offer Hyundai engines to the Pakistani buyers for their Shehzore vehicles.
On the other hand Dewan Group claims that they have an agreement with Kolao and Kolao will supply 500 units of CKD kits every month. In this case it would be the first time in Pakistan automobile history that two different auto assemblers will use same brand and specification engines for their vehicles. There may be some positive effects of this situation. But one critical impact is that customer may suffer badly in case of a fight between Nishat and Dewan. It is a known fact that premium / popular brands in Pakistan enjoys a special position and assemblers get advance money against pre bookings of the vehicles. No doubt that Dewan Shehzore (Hyundai H-100) was a very popular model and hopefully “Dewan” successfully got a huge some of money in advance from the customers against the future delivery of vehicles. If Hyundai Nishat will create any legal hurdle and will become successful to stop Dewan for using the Hyundai brand engine, it will directly affect Dewan and ultimately Dewan customer would be on a receiving end.
Policy makers / approving authorities must keep in mind the case of Tawakal Group / Naya Daur Motors fraud in which 16000 people lost their money in the worst scam of Pakistan history. The amount involved in the fraud was around Rupees 800 Million, the customers were deprived of their hard earned cash through advance booking of the vehicle all over the country.
After collecting more than Rs. 800 Million the accused failed to provide vehicles to their customers and fled to U.S. The situation could become more critical in case of Dewan Group because presently group is on banks default list. Dewan acquired Pakland Cement in 2004 for Rs. 1.1 billion in cash soon after which Dewan group started to post losses cascading into problems for the entire group in just 24 months. Things kept turning from bad to worst and by 2008 were vanished from mainstream news. Dewan’s were eventually declared the defaulters of over Rs. 45 billion. Resultantly assembly and marketing of Hyundai vehicles in Pakistan was also stopped.
by Automark correspondent, published in Automark February-2018 printed edition
Toyota Indus and Pak Suzuki motors suspended pre-booking of two variants in Pakistan
As per market sources Toyota Indus and Pakistan Suzuki motors suspended pre-booking of two variants which are Altis 1.6 and Suzuki wagon R respectively.
The representative of both companies confirmed the news to Automark magazine. The reason behind the suspension of booking of Toyota Altis is that the allocation until February has already been fulfilled and it’s company system to book way ahead of time. The booking of Toyota Altis will resume soon once company management opens order from July 2018 for August 2018.
The booking of Suzuki Wagon R has also been suspended due to overbooking of Suzuki Wagon R. The local manufacturers are unable to cope up with the overwhelming demand of Wagon R. The booking is expected to start again in 120 days. All the orders received till 31st’ January’2018 will be entertained and will get their cars.
However, after that no booking will be accepted. Both Suzuki wagon R and Toyota Altis has been public’s favorite car because of their distinct features, which is why they are in demand. Both of them were a major hit right after their launch.
Toyota officially launched the variant in 2015 and ALTIS 1.6L cost around Rs. 2,204,000 in Pakistan. Suzuki, on the other hand, was launched in April 2014, While Suzuki Wagon-R has to variant VXR 1000cc for Rs. 1029,000 and VXL 1000cc for 1069,000.
Its worth to mention here that the local manufacturers are not able to cope up with demand and government is closing used car import in personal baggage scheme.
Toyota South Africa recalls more than 700,000 vehicles
CAPE TOWN – Japanese carmaker Toyota’s <7203.T> South African unit recalled more than 700,000 vehicles because of an issue with safety bags used in the cars, an official at Toyota South Africa said.
“Toyota South Africa has initiated an immediate recall in excess of 700,000 vehicles across 10 models, including Lexus. This is part of an ongoing global campaign initiated by car manufacturers related to defective Takata safety bags,” the official said on Thursday.
Toyota has a manufacturing plant south of the eastern port city of Durban, where it makes vehicles for the local and export markets.
The faulty airbags, made by Japanese company Takata, have caused some other manufacturers to recall their cars.
REUTERS
Hilux Revo the flagship model has been temporarily suspended from production by Indus Motors
Indus motor company (IMC) which is the assembler and supplier of Toyota makes and models in Pakistan has as to our knowledge temporarily suspended the production of their Hilux Revo which holds a 3.0 litre 1KD-FTV engine with an intercooler and turbo.
It was the flagship model of Hilux, their main most upper class 4X4 below the Fortuner from the models they assemble locally in Pakistan. Along with that the Fortuner which is a luxury 4×4 SUV has been suspended as well but Indus Motor Company has confirmed it is going to soon be re-launched with a 2.8 litre diesel engine. According to some sources IMC is going to try flash the ECU and reprogram it for the 3.0 litre engine trying to fix the issues specified with mechanics, if they are not able to than the engine will get discontinued and replaced with the 2.8 litre diesel engine which is going to also be introduced in the 2018 Fortuner model.
According to some sources Revo was facing injector and rattling issues with the engine, and similar problems were also faced by people using refurbished imported models of Hilux.
When Hilux Revo was first launched 2 years ago with a refreshed look to the Hilux brand, the vehicle came with a 2.8 litre engine as opposed to what Indus Motor Company decided to launch in Pakistan (3.0 litre engine). They did not give a valid reason as to why they did it but market sources say, that they were trying to save money on it.
Now the company is deciding to launch it with the 2.8 litre 1GD-FTV Diesel engine but this will lead to being questioned by the people and feeling left out and since the engine didn’t last for a long period of time the consumers might face a shortage with parts. Many people complained they were facing bad fuel average and engine issues while the older imported Hilux was dealt with the problem of knocking issue with the engine since the engine was not compatible with diesel.