Why Picanto is a Perfect Fit for the Market?

0 747

The auto industry of Pakistan has long been starving of options when it came to buying cars in any category. Each segment of cars was predominated by a couple of auto manufacturers or in some cases only one. Such a situation led to a lack of competition and eventually no second option, whatsoever for the end consumers to consider resulting in the formation of a monopoly and provided the general public with low-quality products at massive costs. And in the absence of any regulatory authority of the government, the consumers found themselves under an unending misery, for decades. Times change and so has been the case with the auto market. The previous government introduced an Auto Development Policy 2016-21 (ADP), which offered several tax-based incentives to the new auto players in the local sector. This policy was much anticipated, and several global auto giants collaborated with local investors to set up their production plants in the country. These automakers included KIA, Hyundai, Nissan, Volkswagen, Renault, etc. However, due to a constant inconsistency in the auto policies, the future of some of these companies still hangs in the balance as they are yet to set up their plants in the country.

The entry of the KIA Picanto is a major step towards ending the trend of the monopoly of a single manufacturer in this particular segment. In Pakistan, the hatchback segment has been long dominated by Pak Suzuki Motor Company while the high-end cars were successfully produced by Atlas Honda and Toyota Indus Motors, respectively. The monopoly of these Japanese auto manufacturers is also infamously known as the Big Three. In such a situation, the introduction of Picanto has certainly worked as an alert for Pak Suzuki. The company was the only major automaker in the country that produced cars with 1000 cc engine capacity. But now faces stern competition from an entrant that is ready to snatch the market share from the monopoly leader. Picanto turns out to be a direct competitor of Suzuki Cultus, which is trying to sustain its sales in the current economic crisis.

It seems like the company analyzed the market for a few years, before launching its products as there was a major gap in the market. This gap of cars that are produced locally and the cars that were being imported. The difference in build quality and phenomenal features was the reason why people preferred to purchase imported cars, rather than rely on locally manufactured options. This gap has now been addressed by KIA, as they launched the Picanto with quality and build, that can only be seen to be believed. Picanto is a versatile hatchback that has the potential to lead the pack in its category. The move was highly anticipated by the general public ever since the news of its introduction was making rounds in the local industry. The Picanto is now finally here, and the company has started receiving its bookings from 14th September 2019, while delivery will begin in the latter half of October.

This powerful new entrant is a perfect addition to the market at such a crucial time. The hatchback has already ensured its presence in the country and promises to go way beyond. The end consumers will now have another option to pick while buying a vehicle under Rs.2 million. Previously, there were as little options as you could imagine. Pak Suzuki, with its Cultus along with its hot-selling hatchback Wagon R, was the only two options in the 1000 cc segment. Its other hatchback Swift is equipped with a 1.3L engine whereas the newly launched 660cc Alto is also among those falling in this category in terms of price. All these cars are only related to each other in terms of price. KIA Picanto has diversified the locally produced hatchbacks’ lineup in the country and given the consumers what they’ve long been asking for, with high quality, better safety, and unprecedented performance.

The most important outcome will be the rise of competition in the industry. Currently, companies use low-quality material in the production of cars because of no competition. With the entry of new players, the competition is bound to get intense, and the Big Three may finally get the wakeup call that they long deserved. As we previously mentioned, the car sales are already down, and in this situation, it will be essential for the automakers to deliver cars at competitive prices with more features to stand out in the race. In our recent comparisons of Picanto with its rivals Wagon R and particularly Cultus, we came across several additional features of Picanto. KIA Picanto and Suzuki Cultus are closely priced yet the former has more attraction for the customers. As a new entrant, the pricing procedure of KIA is a separate discussion, but at the moment, it’s an exciting prospect for the consumers in the market.

The hatchback segment can, therefore, be classified into the following:

Hatchbacks Suzuki Imported KIA
Quality
Specifications
Performance
Warranty
Value for Money

The imported hatchbacks have been loved for their quality, specifications, performance, and value for money; but come without warranty, while the local segment lacked the quality and specifications. KIA addresses and satisfies this gap, intelligently.

Keeping this in mind, the customers have long been craving for top-notch, high quality and build cars; KIA is simply giving the customer that.  Especially considering the dynamics of the market prior to KIA’s arrival; it comes as a wave of fresh air in a rather stale market that was driven by monopoly, not to mention the warranty it offers as well.

Google App Store App Store
No Comments
  1. Abbas A Zafar says

    Mia Khalifa would understand your article better cause you are getting paid to shove this through the throat.

  2. M Khan says

    true that. PW acting like a prostitute

  3. Johny Khan says

    I am amazed at the content of this. Kia must be outta of mind to put a price tag of 2Mn for this car. I wonder what are they upto? 1st delaying launch by over a year, 2nd launching sportage & grand prior to much needed small car. 3rdly pricing picanto at 2 Mn. Are Lucky group serious?

  4. Akram says

    Pak wheels ko sponsored likhtay huay sharam a rahi thee

  5. MTA says

    Gentlemen – please there is no need for name calling or abuse.
    You have to give credit where credit is due – this is a bold move by Kia / Lucky Motors.
    Picanto is a great introduction to the Pk market, it gives consumers more choice and is genuine competition to Paksuzuki.
    PS will now have to up it’s game – this is a win / win for consumers.
    The last time PS had any real competition was with the Hyundai Santro – which was also a very good car.
    Hopefully Kia / Lucky motors won’t make the same mistakes as Hyundai / Dewan Farooque Group.

  6. Abbas says

    We have too many jiyaalay and parwaari, they wont change their loyalty so easily.

  7. Abbas says

    Patwaari

  8. Pk IJ says

    Bro nice article but seems paid, one can easily see that PW is getting paid both from KIA and PakSuzuki so the balance can be seen there 🙂 the fact is that both KIA and Pak Suzuki has kept prices insanely high as compared to the features offered. KIA is far far behind than PS when it comes to after sales and dealership network, whereas KIA dealerships are available only in selected cities and the facilities and services are not up to mark. Local Manufacturing or local assembling has no use if there is little or negligible local vendors engagement, and even if local vendors are making parts prices are still too high, We as a customers got nothing good after entry of KIA bcz they have too same looting philosophy like the other big three. Ap say to achay to China Walay thay jinhon nay starting 1049K ki 1300cc fully loaded hatchback launch ki thi wo bhi safety features kay saath , aur afsos kay saath ab wo bhi lootna shuru ho gay hain ap ko dekh ker…

  9. Hasan Raza says

    $$$ dikh gaye hongey :-p

  10. Hasan Raza says

    Yes agreed, 2 million rupees opens a load of opportunity for local consumers, and why even go for KIA, which in past greatly disappointed us with its, “SHANDAR CARS” like KIA Pride, Classic, Spectra. Sportage, which were not a good value for money at the time, and spare parts availability was also a big issue back then. I am not a fan of the big three car manufacturers of Pakistan still I am forced to say that even back then they easily won from KIA, In today’s market for someone with 2 million rupee pocket the best option are Japanese imports from Toyota, Daihatsu and even Suzuki.

  11. Anis Khan says

    It is the Perfect UNFIT car with its Current Price Tag And Its Old Generation Offered to Consumer In Pakistan … Sorry but this is another Scam …
    1. Bring in the Latest Generation .
    2. Make Price tag according to World Markets .

  12. Shiraz Maqbool says

    I think that the Picanto has quite a bit of features missing on the Cultus. DRLs, rear windshield wiper, Isofix seats to secure your kid in a car seat, heated side mirrors and lots of useful little cubbyholes to place your stuff in. Also it has a proper torque converter auto, unlike the AGS which is just a manual gearbox with a clutch actuator. Shame that it is the previous generation instead of the current one – but lets face facts, when did we actually get the latest generation from the big three? FAW is also churning out the same V2 as it was and that too even without a change of grill design which is at least something that the big three did regularly but i don’t see anyone complaining about that.

    No, I don’t work for Kia. I’m not saying they’re saints, but they are no worse than the rest of the crowd.

    However, think for a moment – A Suzuki is priced at nearly the same amount, used cars in the 1000cc engine capacity range (Vitz and Passo, to name a couple of popular choices) are slightly lower in price (or sometimes higher, which is insane) but those are a couple of year old models (at minimum) which have been driven anywhere from 15-25k kilometers before arriving at our shores a bit battered and bruised. Sure the used cars have a lot more features like climate control, reversing cameras, collision detection and avoidance but be honest – with the exception of a reverse cam, does anyone actually use the other features in our traffic system?

    The gist of my argument is – it may be the discontinued generation instead of the current one, it may be overpriced but it is actually not a bad choice, all things considered.

  13. Abdul Wahab Butt says

    $8600 for used second Generation in Korea. Now do the Math… Dude current price is not more than what they are charging in other countries…

    But yes, if they increase it without any Dollar or Tax effect that would be really really WRONG.

    Also, I do agree we can not compare Pakistani consumer with US/korean Market. So, there might be 2.5%-5.0% extra they are charging. Still that is only an assumption…

  14. immortal says

    You should keep in mind that our rupee has devalued and the gov is charging too much taxes on the think only if gov removes fed and reduces gst to 10 percent how significantly prices will be affected moreover people will be able to buy more so in the end more tax collected.

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.