To effectively cope with domestic market of over 1.5 million units and after successful launch of their products in global markets, the local motorcycle producers are now planning further investment of dollars 100-150 million in their existing units. 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 percent.
"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", said a market analyst. He said that the encouraging aspect in this regard is that industry is on the path to sustained growth. The local demand for motorcycles is likely to exceed two million units within a year or two, he added. "The global response to our quality motorcycles indicate a sustain and health 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 the sustained growth had 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. He said the industry now had to fulfil the growing demand in both domestic and global markets and for this, it needs to invest over dollars 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, were 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 dollars 10-15 million, the total investment would cross dollars 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 percent local components, the Pakistani bikes are produced by 100 percent local parts, he added.
The market analyst urged that in such an encouraging situation, the government should refrain from taking steps that might jeopardise this investment. He said that an investment of dollars 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. The local investment has been put on hold pending government's clear cut policy in this regard, he added.-PR
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