In a surprising development, MG HS in Pakistan has witnessed a massive price increase of Rs 23 lac according to a recent notification that went viral on the internet & social media.
In December 2021, MG had already increased the price of HS crossover by Rs 850,000 effective from January 2022 after which it was available for PKR 65.99 lac. However according to the new notification, the latest price bump comes in wake of the added duties & taxes imposed by the government on CBU vehicles in the supplementary financial bill which came into effect earlier this year. After which the price of MG HS Trophy Edition will reach approximately PKR 89.0 lac excluding freight charges.
The company is also giving an option to the customers to convert the booking into the smaller MG ZS crossover which is currently priced at PKR 44.48 lac. The MG ZS will be delivered within a week, the notification says.
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This is probably due to the fact that the ZS units have been previously imported and since its the slowest selling vehicle, MG has a lot of unsold units in their inventory which they can obviously deliver within a week. However even if the ZS has to be imported today, considering the added duties & taxes on CBUs, its price is also going to witness a massive bump.
Both MG and Proton are suffering from similar problems with local production yet to commence. Although the first local assembled MG HS was rolled off the assembly lines back in May 2021, the commercial production is yet to kick off. Proton also celebrated the line-off ceremony of X70 but as per reports the company hasn’t yet started the volume production of X70 which is expected to commence towards the end of March 2022, not to mention the vehicle was formally launched way back in December 2020. Though MG has informed its customers that it plans to launch the locally assembled HS, which will be called as Essence towards the end of this year, however no formal date has been announced yet.
Related: Mini Budget: Revised Taxes & Duties Imposed
The government, in order to control the outflow of precious foreign exchange reserves has placed additional duties & taxes in mini budget which has resulted in massive price increase on CBUs. 50% regulatory duty on combustion engine vehicles with engine displacements above 850cc is now enforced which was previously just 15%.
How this massive price increase is going to impact the sales of MG, which till now has been heavily relying on the import of CBUs, we will have to wait to find out. But the question comes to our mind, if you have the luxury to spend PKR 8.9 million & more, will you buy the MG HS? Let us know with your comments.
A computer animation professional with over 23 years of industry experience having served in leading organizations, TV channels & production facilities in Pakistan. An avid car enthusiast and petrolhead with an affection to deliver quality content to help shape opinions. Formerly written for PakWheels as well as major publications including Dawn. Founder of CarSpiritPK.com
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