KARACHI, PAKISTAN: Indus Motor Company (INDU), the assembler of Toyota vehicles in Pakistan, has announced a whopping $100 million investment in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) production over next three years, a bourse filing said on Wednesday.

“We are pleased to announce that based on the incentives provided against certain taxes and duties as announced by the Government of Pakistan through Finance Act, 2021 and subsequent SROs, the company has evaluated and plans to invest an estimated aggregate amount of $100 million, over the period of next 3 years, for the local production of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) in Pakistan,” the filing noted.

The announced investment will be made towards plant upgradation and extension, localization of parts or components and production preparation or assembling of the first Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV), by the company at its plant in Port Qasim, Karachi.

Analysts said the government incentives announced by the government would attract investments in HEV sector.

Large-scale use of HEVs will result in reduced oil imports and also save the environment. Other automobile manufacturers should follow suit.

INDU posted net sales revenue of Rs179.2 billion in FY21, a 108 per cent increase compared to Rs86.2 billion last year, while profit after tax increased by 151 per cent to Rs12.8 billion from Rs5.1 billion posted last year.

During the year, sales volume of CKD and CBU vehicles increased 100 per cent, to 57,731 units as against 28,837 units sold in the previous year.

Government’s consistent effort to promote the local automotive industry in the Hybrid sub-sector is noteworthy. Its intent to locally develop Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), Plug-in Hybrids (PHEVs) and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) to mitigate climate change and reduce dependency on oil imports is appreciated.

Indus Motor Company Limited, operating as Toyota Indus, is a Pakistani automobile manufacturer which is a subsidiary of Japanese multinational automaker Toyota. It is a based in Karachi, Pakistan. Founded in 1989, as a joint venture between House of Habib, Toyota Tsusho and Toyota Motors.