Seeking a sensible auto policy

The next automobile policy will test the ability of policymakers to reconcile competing commercial interests while keeping the country’s broader economic, industrial and environmental objectives in view. In more than one way, the new policy will be the most consequential industrial policy document Pakistan has produced in years. Every major stakeholder is lobbying aggressively for protecting their commercial interests through a policy that was supposed to be announced before the expiry of the previous one on June 30. Legacy assemblers want protection for their existing internal combustion engine (ICE) portfolios. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid manufacturers seek extension of tax incentives that…