I would choose the latter IF it was a manufactured product, not an assembled one. That way we can independently support to keep making this model for as long as we like according to our market standards without any risk of getting outdated and outsourced. If we were manufacturing our vehicles instead of selling, we would probably still be selling the Mehran.

However, since we’re a long stretch away from actual manufacturing and almost all of our cars are just assembled with imported parts, it would be better to go with the stripped down newer model just to avoid being outdated and having parts supply issues which would just ultimately lead to the vehicle getting expensive anyway.

Stagnation = stand still.
But if you think like this: Pause before you leap.

Suppose you had the choice to launch the new gen Alto with stripped down safety features such as ABS etc. or to upgrade the current Alto to include ABS as standard in all trim levels (since the initial expenditure of tool and plant is somewhat break-even in 3 or o years) and continue manufacturing the same chassis, which option would you choose?

Well said.

Maybe, but then it isn’t always a good thing. With new cars comes new tech, meaning newer safety, engine emissions and quality standards. We could do the same thing we did with the Mehran for the Alto (stretch the assembly for 30 years) but then in the end the most we could achieve is being 30 years behind on the latest and newest technology that is available for the rest of the world.

The current Alto being sold was launched in Japan in 2014, and will end sometime in 2021. 5-6 years isn’t really a bad thing provided the platform is strong, supported and modular. So as long as there is parts support for the previous gen, it’s not an issue.

However, in our case, almost all of our cars are imported from outside in parts, and then hand assembled here. Barely any parts are actually produced in house, so foreign dependability regarding vehicle parts is almost 100% every time. With this new Alto, it is made on a different platform meaning different and newer parts/manufacturing process, which could lead to the production of the parts for the previous gen getting significantly cut down, ultimately meaning that continuation of assembly of the previous gen is no longer economically feasible anymore.

But then, we Pakistanis… we like to find more cheaper and “2 number” ways. The Mehran and Bolan and Ravi were/is assembled using parts ordered from Chinese firms/production facilities, since original Japanese CKDs are not possible to get for these ancient vehicles, even 20 years ago. So it is possible they strike a deal similar with some Chinese firm for the current Alto sold in Pakistan as well, although not very likely.

TL;DR and in conclusion: Stagnation is always a bad thing.

Do you think it would be better for them to skip a generation and directly offer the latest one after 8 or 10 years?
After all these are the cheaper end vehicles and can be expected that the portion of society that uses them will be looking for a long time to spend without worrying for availability of spare parts.

If they copied that article, their entire budget and funding for their blog and “journalism” will shut down.

You connect the dots 😜

So they copied the Alto article but didn’t copied the Corolla getting 3 years old wala article? Why? Coz Abbu naraz ho jaingayna 😂

https://www.pakwheels.com/blog/next-gen-suzuki-alto-brochure-leaked-online/

Now would anyone link this article in that one?