Pakistan is currently one of the biggest car consumers around the world. The total contribution of Automobile sector in GDP of Pakistan was 2.8% in 2007 when Automobile consumption was at its peak in Pakistan. Also, Pakistan's industry is basically manufacturing oriented & Automobile sector contributes 16% to the overall manufacturing in our homeland.
All the above mentioned facts & figures are entirely dependent on the car consumer who has the capability to accept & appreciate one automobile producer's products, while discard another.
The Car consumer psychology in Pakistan is basically very limited & concentrated to certain automobile manufacturers. While if any other manufacturer intends to introduce their automobile products, it almost becomes impossible to for the new comer to diversify the vision of the consumer, even through proper marketing. This is due to the influence of certain Japanese car manufacturers who have developed a strong hold on various categories of car production in Pakistan namely reliability, availability & most importantly cost.
The truth however remains, about the little knowledge of the consumer to conduct market survey when he intends to own an automobile. Automobile purchase in Pakistan is entirely dependent on what others purchase. Generally it is seen that once an individual decides to purchase an automobile he generally considers his range first & keeping that range in mind he just concentrates on the most popular car of that respective category. The best example to prove this point as evidence is the low rate of success of Korean cars in Pakistan. When KIA & Hyundai introduced their sedans & hatchbacks respectively; back in the year 2000, hoping to give their Japanese counterparts a stiff competition through competitive rates of their vehicles & spare parts; unfortunately they failed quite badly.
This was due to the monopoly of the Japanese manufactures in the market, which are considered to be the most reliable in Pakistan. I absolutely agree that the vehicles manufactured under the Japanese banner are reliable & cost effective too, but I emphasize that today the standards of car manufacturing have increased globally. Korean car manufacturing giants KIA & Hyundai are well respected in American as well as European markets. This is due to the high standards of comfort, reliability & drive characteristics offered by their Sedans, Hatchbacks, SUV’s & MPV’s at almost similar or even cheaper rates in comparison to Japanese manufacturers.
The question that arises in my mind after considering all these facts is just that if the European & American market is ready to accept the Korean car manufacturers then why couldn’t we? Why we remain ignorant to these facts or are we pretending to be ignorant?
Market survey in Pakistan chiefly means that the car an individual is about to purchase is either easily repairable or not & whether the spare parts are available at low rates or not. Other than these two basic facts the purchaser never bothers about any other aspect regarding the vehicle he is about to purchase.
One of the key aspects is Safety of the vehicle incase of head on/side on impacts & rollover. While purchasing a vehicle the purchaser absolutely neglects the safety parameters offered by the vehicle he is about to purchase. The only obligatory safety parameter in Pakistani Automobile market is the presence of seat belts, other than that the presence of Crumple zones & SRS Airbags is an kept just as an option by the manufacturers & that too only for the highly priced brands.
Another safety feature that has entered our car market about four years ago is the presence of Anti locking Braking system (ABS). This is also limited to only the highly priced vehicles and that too in the optional category.
Now I would like to highlight this fact with an example. Let us suppose a consumer is intentional to purchase a car of 1300cc engine displacement category & he is offered two cars of almost same cost; One having more passenger & boot space but less safety features like the absence of Airbags & ABS while the other having these safety features present but a compact body shell offering less space, it will be generally seen that the individual will opt. for the vehicle with more space neglecting the importance of safety features. If he is asked about the reason of taking such a decision the probable answer heard is “Basically I am a family man so a car offering more passenger space for my family & a boot that offers good capacity for my luggage is all that I need”.
Ignorance to Safety which is one of the major aspects of a vehicle results in fatal casualties sadly. It has to be accepted that Safety features introduced by European & American car manufacturers not so long ago, like the Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Traction Control (TC) & Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD) are unheard of here in Pakistan, also the presence of 7 Airbags which include curtain Airbags is something unimaginable in our country, but utilizing the safety parameters made available by the local manufacturers is entirely up to the consumer.
Other minute aspects are the looks & dive performance of the vehicle. It is generally seen that a car that offers better visual design features is appreciated even if it offers much worse drive characteristics than its competitor with duller looks.
Pakistan is a developing country offering immense scope for car manufacturing & consumption. As we all say this today that Cars have become intelligent these days due to the usage to electronic components that reduce emissions & maintain great fuel economy, I personally hope that the consumers in Pakistan should also utilize their intelligence while purchasing a vehicle in order to receive much better rewards in terms of better drive, comfort & good safety parameters for the price they pay for their vehicle, & avoid themselves from exploitation by the presence of monopoly in our market
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