Pakistan’s bike makers to invest heavily

Pakistan’s local motorcycle producers are planning further investment of up to $150 million in their existing units to cope with domestic demand and successful launch of their products in global markets, a statement said quoting industry executives on Wednesday. The motorcycle industry analysts have pointed out that despite numerous hiccups the economy had during past four years, the growth in motorcycle production has been robust at 15 per cent, the statement said.“A decade back, the total motorcycle production in Pakistan was around 100,000 units, now the largest player alone is rolling out half a million units while total production of two wheelers has crossed 1.5 million,” the statement said quoting a top executive of a motorcycle maker said. Industry is on the path of sustained growth. The local demand for motorcycles is likely to exceed 2 million units within a year or two, he said according to the statement. “The global response to our quality motorcycles indicate a sustain and healthy growth in exports as well” he said adding that in fact, the industry experts are seeing themselves as the largest exporters in the engineering sector.He said that the sustained growth has been possible due to regular investment and up-gradation of technology in the motorcycle industry. “The growth we see in motorcycle production would not have been possible without investment”, he added. Fahad Iqbal chief executive of HKF Engineering the makers of Ravi motorcycles said that the industry now has to fulfil the growing demand in both domestic and global markets and for this, it needs to invest over $100 million in the next couple of years to keep abreast with the market needs and demands. He said that all the motorbike producers having production of 50,000 units or above is now planning to expand their capacities to cope up with the market demands.“There are almost a dozen players that have achieved this production level” he said adding that even if each of them invests $10-15 million, the total investment would cross $150 million. These units have been regularly making investments to increase their market share but now they have reached a level where they have to invest in high-tech parts to ensure that instead of having 90 per cent local components, the Pakistani bikes are produced by 100 per cent local parts, he added. The market analyst urged that in such an encouraging situation, the government should refrain from taking steps that might jeopardize this investment. He said that an investment of $150 million by local players without any government concession is better than vying for similar investment over a period of 10 years from a foreign player on huge concessions. From / Gulf Today