Pakistan’s Automobile companies have collected around Rs. 217 billion from customers in advance bookings this year with Toyota Indus Motors Company (IMC) leading the game at Rs. 112 billion.
Secretary of Ministry of Industries and Production revealed these numbers at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting, which was headed by MNA Noor Alam Khan.
Toyota is followed by Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) at Rs. 41.66 billion and Honda Atlas Cars Limited (HACL) at Rs. 23 billion, the secretary added.
He explained that they collected 20 to 100 percent of the car’s price as booking from customers despite the fact their production facilities are not fully operational.
He further detailed that companies are compelled to deliver vehicles within 60 days of booking, adding that Toyota can produce 5,600 vehicles per year, but it does not do so because of its partially operational plant.
If a company fails to deliver the vehicle in the mentioned time they have to pay KIBOR plus 3 percent penalty for late delivery. In this regard, the secretary revealed that the car companies have paid over Rs. 1.9 billion to the customers during the last two years.
During the meeting, PAC suggested changing the name of Pakistan’s automakers to auto assemblers, while automakers argued that they were suffering losses, which is why they had to close the plant.