Toyota Pakistan aka Indus Motor Company (IMC) has announced that it has suspended bookings for all cars at the moment. The development comes almost one month after the car maker suspended bookings for all vehicles in the country for two weeks.
The company has issued a statement that it will be suspending bookings for all vehicles once again due to the same of uncertain and volatile market conditions. In a notification issued by Toyota Pakistan, the company has directed all its dealerships to suspend the bookings for call cars / models until further notice.
The decision comes at a time of political and economic instability with the new coalition government being unable to handle the current situation ever since it came into power after ousting ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan through a co-confidence motion.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistani Rupee (PKR) has fallen to a historic low against the US Dollar (USD to PKR) this month. The local currency has ended the day (Wednesday) at Rs. 198.39 in the inter-bank market, which is a fall of Rs. 2.65 compared to the previous day (Tuesday).
The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) has depreciated by Rs. 14.3 since 1st April and it is expected to fall even further unless the International Monetary Fund (IMF) releases the next tranche $1 billion after successful talks with the government. Furthermore, the stock market continues to crash, while inflation is at an all-time high.
The announcement by Toyota to suspend bookings for all cars is not unexpected as automotive manufacturers import majority of the parts in order to assemble the vehicle in Pakistan. The continued descent of the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) against the US Dollar (USD) has put a lot of pressure on the automotive sector, which has lead to this decision.
It is expected that other automotive manufacturers will follow Toyota Pakistan in this decision with suspension of their bookings in the coming days unless Pakistani Rupee stabilizes against the US Dollar and the stock market recovers. Otherwise, we may expect things to get a lot worse in the country.
It bears mentioning that Toyota Pakistan (Indus Motor Company) will continue to delivery cars already booked by customers as per their schedule.
Read more: Pakistani Rupee Continues its Fall Against US Dollar.
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