Hubco reaffirms 2026 date for BYD assembly in Pakistan

The Hub Power Company Limited (Hubco) has doubled down on its plan to assemble BYD vehicles in Pakistan by late 2026, and is building the charging backbone to make those cars usable on long-distance routes. In a management briefing with investors, the company confirmed the completely knocked-down (CKD) plant is slated to come online in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 and disclosed it has already spent about $10 million, with debt drawdowns in place and equity provisioned internally. At the same time, Hubco is laying out an electric-vehicle charging network along highways every 100 kilometres, to be co-owned with fuel retailers, even as it wrestles with regulatory and receivables issues that continue to dog its legacy power portfolio.

The push into electric mobility marks a sharp strategic turn for Pakistan’s largest independent power producer. But it is also a hedge. As power offtake contracts face tariff true-ups, late-payment disputes and policy overhangs, the economics of auto assembly – especially if supported by pro-EV taxation and rising consumer interest – offer a new earnings stream. The company says initial reaction to BYD’s Shark model has been “very encouraging”, a signal that it intends to marry brand equity with local manufacturing and after-sales reach when the factory starts to roll.