LAHORE – Pakistanis have launched a social media campaign against three big auto manufacturers – Toyota, Honda and Suzuki – for manufacturing vehicles without safety features and decade old designs in high prices.
Through a Facebook page ‘CAMBT’ (Campaign Against Monopoly of Big Three), people are raising their voice against what they call the “monopoly of local auto manufacturers”. They have also approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan to look into the matter.
“The automobile industry of Pakistan is a small and growing one. Honda, Suzuki, and Toyota are the only noticeable companies. Due to such a limited number of companies, these companies have created their monopoly. When the Government increases taxes on the companies, they increase the prices of their car. They do what they want to and no one makes them accountable for that,” reads a CAMBT letter shared on social media.
So far, hundreds of people have joined the campaign, maintaining three leading automakers in the South Asian country are defrauding the consumers. They say that the prices at which vehicles are sold in Pakistan are completely unjustified and the Supreme Court of Pakistan should take action against it.
People, through this campaign, have demanded to decrease import duties and taxes and increase the safety features in locally produced cars.
“Both Government and The Big Three are looting us. Kindly do not puzzle with the thing that we are favouring either Government or this Mafia. We are spreading awareness to the nation that both of them are sucking our blood mercilessly and don’t waste you’re hard earned money on these scrap cars,” another post read.
However, there are also a few Facebook followers opposing this campaign as they believe if the government removes or reduces the import duties, the local auto industry will collapse resulting in downsizing of thousands of assembly plants workers.
Experts believe the surge in the price of locally manufactured vehicles is inversely proportional due to the rupee’s devaluation.
In simple terms, not all parts of the cars are manufactured locally, so the automakers are forced to import parts from foreign vendors, which have now become expensive due to decline in the value of rupee.
