Among the other guests of honour, the most notable were Dr Ghousuddin Khan, Chief of the Sindh Investment Bureau and Mr Naeem Rehman, Additional Secretary General of PML and various other high ranking diplomats and dignitaries from many other countries.
The launch ceremony was started with a ribbon cutting ceremony which unveiled the marvelous CHERY QQ car to the public. After the ribbon cutting ceremony, the Chief Minister and the Chinese Ambassador proceeded to sit inside the Chery QQ car where they were given a hands on tour and detailed briefing about various unique features of the Chery QQ car that make it stand apart and superior to even the ultra-luxury vehicles that are currently being offered globally.
The Chery QQ car is currently being fully manufactured by the Chery Automobile Co of China and it is being introduced by the Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd of Pakistan which is the sole distributor for all Chery brand products in the territory of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan Chery Automobiles (Pvt) Ltd will initially be importing, marketing and selling Chery cars from China on a Completely Built Up (CBU) basis, moving progressively onwards to setting up Completely Knock-down unit (CKD) assembly plant, in the Sindh Province, for the assembly, marketing and selling of the Chery automobiles in Pakistan.
Chery Automobile Co Ltd of China is one of the fastest growing automobile manufacturing concerns in China. Its product range encompasses the 800 cc, 1,100 cc, 1600 cc, 2,000 cc and SUV automobiles. The Chery Automobile Co Ltd has its own cutting edge research and design facility where its own designers, in co-operation and collaboration from the top European design houses such as Pininfarina and Bertone of Italy, Lotus of the UK and Mitsubishi automobile Company of Japan, are constantly striving to make the best automobiles in the world. The company is also one of the biggest state owned and semi-privately owned companies of that country.
The company's headquarters and production facilities are located in the city of Wuhu, China. Its total area spans thirteen million square meters (13 million Sq. meters) and has an annual production capacity of 400,000 engines and 300,000 completely built up vehicles.
Indeed the co-operation between Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd and Chery Automobile Co Ltd of China will go a long way towards enhancing the already good friendly relations between the people of Pakistan and those of the People's Republic of China.
The launching of Chery cars in Pakistan is yet another sign of the improving indicators of trade and economic co-operation between the two countries. . Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd shall introduce the entire product line of the Chery automobile Co Ltd of China in Pakistan.
Pakistan has one of the lowest number of vehicles per capita among the developing countries which is around 7 cars per 1,000 people and therefore offers a lot of room for demand growth. Due to increased power of purchase of the customers due to the readily available financing and attractive leasing schemes by financial institutions, and despite the price elasticity and intensifying competition, the industry players are enjoying very healthy profit margins on their automobiles.
Recent surveys have revealed that more than 65% of all new automobiles are being paid for through financing and leasing options. In fact, customers are currently making a 100% up-front payment for their cars and after this they have to wait for up to six months to get delivery of their vehicles. Furthermore, in order to get an immediate delivery of their fully paid for automobiles, customers are having to pay up to 20% of the value of the cars as a premium to secure immediate delivery of the cars.
It is one of the missions of Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd to eliminate this menace of late delivery and premiums from the Pakistani market. It is with this noble aim in mind that the company is offering the best quality vehicles in the world at the most competitive prices to the customers.
A testament to this is the fact that the Chery QQ ranked number one in the globally prestigious J.D. Powers Associates Initial Quality Study award for the year 2004 and in order to achieve this ranking the QQ car beat competition from all over the world in the compact car category.
Furthermore, the number of unique features and comfort options that are available in the Chery QQ car are simply not even present in high end cars available anywhere in the world. Most notable of these features include the automatic closing of windows at shutdown of the QQ car and the built-in security system.
In short, the introduction of the Chery QQ car would set new benchmarks in the local market for high standards of quality and service. Indeed, the average citizen of Pakistan would be the ultimate winner and beneficiary of this car.
As stated earlier, the Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd would progressively move towards setting up of a CKD assembly plant for the Chery automobiles in the province of Sindh. The CKD plant would assemble the entire range of Chery Automobile Co Ltd of China which would include small, medium and luxury cars as well as SUV's and commercial vehicles.
It is anticipated that work on the assembly plant would start towards the end of the year 2006. The plans for setting up on this plant reflects the strong commitment of our firm towards investing in Pakistan general and in the great province of Sindh in particular.
This project would bring into the country foreign investment to the tune of Forty Million Dollars on a Joint venture basis between the Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd and that of Chery Automobile Co Ltd of China. In fact, this would be the first joint venture project of this magnitude in Pakistan between Pakistan and China in the passenger automobile sector.
This project also has an ultimate aim to create direct employment for thousands of residents of the province of Sindh and in addition several more thousand of families would benefit through the creation of indirect jobs which would be needed in the form of setting up of the vending industry, various dealerships, spare-parts and other allied facilities that would be needed to support the operation of the CKD assembly plant in the Sindh province.
The Pakistan Chery plant would not simply be an assembly plant for automobiles, in fact Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd will become the progressive manufacturer and eventual exporter of these cars from Pakistan by becoming the first company in the history of Pakistan to reach 100% deletion level and to ensure a 100% transfer of technology from China to Pakistan.
It is the firm belief of Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd that through Pakistan's vital geo-strategic location , excellent government policies and a widely available and large pool of talented and highly economical manpower, that our country can be transformed into a regional export driven trading hub.
Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd has the aim to ensure that it would hire as many people from the local populace after imparting to them stringent and extensive training and education programs which would ensure that these individuals would become one of the highly qualified and competitive persons who will meet and exceed all global standards in this industry.
In addition, it is the ultimate aim of Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) Ltd that Pakistan should be transformed as a springboard for the supply of world class automobiles to the world. In fact, as soon as the Chery CKD plant would become operational, Pak Chery would aggressively move towards capturing the potentially lucrative markets of Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics and thereby we would bring a great name for Pakistan.
Furthermore, it would enable the company to bring in large amounts of foreign exchange which would be put into the development of vital infrastructure in Pakistan leading to further improvement of the lives of the people of Pakistan.
Let us all take this opportunity to pray that Allah Almighty may help Pakistan Chery Automobile (Pvt) ltd in achieving all its noble and selfless goal towards improving Pakistan's standing in all social and economic fields, which would lead to the common people of our great country to share increased happiness and prosperity for all times to come.