Suzuki rebuffs speculation of slashing prices, as Haval takes the plunge on cutting prices

The month of October is poised to witness a flurry of pricing decisions in Pakistan’s automotive industry. Hot on the heels of Hyundai and Honda, and closely following Toyota, Suzuki and Haval have made their own pricing announcements. The former has vehemently denied rumours that it had slashed its prices, whilst the latter has gone ahead and reduced prices from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh across its portfolio.

Let’s start with Suzuki. 

“The news with reference to reduction of prices of Suzuki vehicles are totally and completely wrong and fake. At present Suzuki has not reduced the  price of any vehicle,” stated Shafiq Ahmed Shaikh, Head of Public Relations at Suzuki. When queried about the source of the whispers of the price decreases, Shafiq replied by saying that “we also learnt of this through the media”.

The notification Shafiq is referring to went viral on social media suggesting that Suzuki had cut the prices of all of its vehicles from anywhere between Rs 42,000 to Rs 1.1 lakh. According to the spurious notification, the whole Bolan line witnessed its prices slashed by Rs 42,000, the Alto saw price reductions of Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000, the Wagon-R experienced reductions in the range of Rs 75,000 to Rs 85,000, the Cultus underwent reductions between Rs 85,000 to 95,000, and finally the Swift enjoyed its prices slashed in the range of Rs 95,000 to Rs 1.1 lakh.

In contrast to Suzuki, Haval has trimmed the prices of its entire H6 portfolio by Rs 4 lakh and its Jolion by Rs 3.5 lakh. The company has attributed the reduction to the Rupee’s appreciation in the foreign exchange market.

Haval’s decision is a bit of an oddity in the sense that its lineup of vehicles are part of the very few vehicles not trading at markdown rates in the secondary market. Looking across the aisle in terms of price reductions, most manufacturers have reduced the prices of their vehicles in line with the prices they retail for in the secondary market. 

“We are an honest and transparent company that values our customers and their hard-earned money. We cannot speak for other brands, but you can compare the difference in the price reductions. Our duty is to our end users and as such we have passed on the maximum benefit to them,” asserts Ammar Hameed, Director at Sazgar Engineering.

Haval’s decision coincides with the day the company posted a record-breaking quarterly profit of Rs 659 million. “Alhamdulillah, the response for Haval has been phenomenal and people are extremely satisfied with the quality of our vehicles,” Hameed remarks when questioned about Haval’s quarterly results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024.