Changan Pakistan has increased prices of all their car variants as the company follows in the footsteps of other car manufacturers.The prices have been increased by up to Rs275,000 and the company has cited increasing shipment cost due to container shortage as a major reason. “The freight charges have gone up,” the company said.The new prices have already taken effect.This is the second price increase announcement from Changan Motors this year. The company increased the prices of Alsvin variants by Rs120,000 in August but had to withdraw the decision after government intervention.
However, car prices in Pakistan witnessed a new wave of hike in November and almost all automakers announced the revised prices in wake of rising shipping costs and depreciating value of the rupee.Changan Alsvin The prices of Changan Alsvin 1.3L M/T Comfort, Alsvin 1.5L DCT Comfort and Alsvin 1.5L DCT Lumiere have gone up by Rs275,000. These variants will now be selling for Rs2.42 million, Rs2.67 million and Rs2.86 million, respectively.Alsvin is the most popular model from Changan in PakistanChangan Karvaan The prices of Changaan Karvaan MPV and Karvaan MPV Plus have gone up by Rs275,000 each. The new prices of both variants are Rs1.67 million and Rs1.81 million respectively.
Changan M9 Loader Pickup has seen a price hike of Rs275,000 and will now cost Rs1.50 million.Why did cars prices go up?Research analyst Abdul Ghani Miannoor said that the shipping costs have increased five times. “The demand of the containers went up after the lockdown was lifted but supply of containers couldn’t meet the expected demand due to limited shipping capacity,” Ghani said.A changan dealer said that the company imports almost all of the parts from China and assembles units in Pakistan. “The costs of raw materials such as steel and aluminum have increased in the international market and the dollar has touched an all-time high of Rs178.30, putting pressure on the imports bill. Moreover, sea freight charges have jacked up,” she added.
Association of Pakistan Motorcycle Assemblers (APMA) Chairperson Muhammad Sabir Shaikh said that due to Covid restrictions, countries such as China have reduced their number of workers at the ports which is creating hurdles.Sheikh said that China is experiencing a container shortage as it is one of the counties with high exports volume. “Apart from that, an unexpected demand is created after the lockdown was lifted in different countries,” Shaikh added.How will the price hike impact car sales?Ghani said that the sales of the company may go down due to the jump in car prices.Changan dealers said that the sales may decline by 10% to 15% due to price increase.However, they claimed that Changan cars are still priced low as compared to other brands with the same features. “Since all the big players have increased car prices, the price hike may not cause a big dent,” a dealer added.
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