Govt announces auto policy with focus on cheaper vehicles, EVs

Pakistan’s federal government announced a new auto policy on Saturday, targeting lower vehicle prices and greater use of electric vehicles. Information Minister Attaullah Tarrar and Industries and Production Adviser Haroon Akhtar Khan presented the plan at a press conference in Islamabad, Dawn reported.

The policy has six priorities: affordability, exports, local production, vehicle safety, electric-vehicle promotion and transparency. Khan said changes to duties on fully built vehicles and assembly plants would be phased in annually, with competitive tariffs intended after five years; he also said luxury vehicles would be excluded from the expected price reductions. The government says its tariff approach is aimed at reducing manufacturing costs and raw-material import spending.