Pakistan auto policy draft adds 45 safety rules and caps booking advances

Pakistan auto policy draft adds 45 safety rules and caps booking advances

7 November 2026: Pakistan's final draft Automotive Industry Policy would bring 45 more vehicle safety standards in line with the UN's WP.29 regulations and bar carmakers from taking more than 20% of a car's price as an advance at booking. Haroon Akhtar Khan, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production, presented it in Islamabad with Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, and said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved the draft, which now goes to the Federal Cabinet.

Not yet independently verified. We rely on the state news agency APP and two Pakistani outlets; the Ministry of Industries and Production had not posted the policy text when we read its site on 8 November. The list of 45 standards, the duty schedule and an effective date are not yet published. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Safety standards for new and used cars

Khan told the press conference that the absence of adequate standards, particularly for imported used vehicles, had been a serious concern, and pointed to accidents caused by defective brakes, tyre failures and seat belts that did not work, as APP reported it. The draft adds 45 standards under WP.29, the UN forum whose regulations most car-producing countries use for type approval. ProPakistani quotes him: "When our vehicles will go through these safety codes, they will be considered the world's safest vehicles, both manufactured and used."

The standards themselves have not been listed. For carmakers and importers, that list decides how much engineering and certification work follows; for buyers of fleet vehicles, it decides which models stay on sale.

A ceiling on the booking advance

APP describes the target as the additional charges at booking commonly known as "on-money". The draft makes it mandatory for manufacturers not to charge more than 20% of the vehicle price as an advance at the time of booking, which APP describes as an instruction from the Prime Minister to protect consumers. The policy also includes third-party audits, which Khan presented as a transparency measure.

Exports, tariffs and localisation

TechJuice reports that the policy rests on six pillars: affordable vehicles, exports, localisation, safety, electric vehicles and transparency. It sets an export target of $6 billion, against about $200 million today, and Khan said makers that miss their targets will be fined. Duties on completely built units and on assembly plants would come down every year, reaching what he called competitive tariffs after five years, and he said the prices of all but luxury vehicles would fall gradually. APP adds that the government wants makers to raise local content and build a domestic vendor industry rather than assemble imported kits.

Electric vehicles and charging

According to TechJuice, the financing limit for electric vehicles rises from Rs2 million to Rs10 million and import duties on charging stations are reduced. Khan tied the push to oil prices and the import bill, and said results from the National Electric Vehicle Policy launched last year would be shared.

Our car makers category lists 52 companies, among them Pakistan's Indus Motor Company, and our EV charging category lists 35. The next step is the Federal Cabinet, followed by the remaining approval stages before the policy takes effect.

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Sources

• APP (Associated Press of Pakistan): Haroon Akhtar unveils draft auto policy, eyes localisation, vehicle safety, EV promotion, 7 November 2026
• TechJuice: Govt unveils new auto policy to cut car prices and lift vehicle exports to $6 billion, 7 November 2026
• ProPakistani: Pakistan to introduce 45 new safety standards for cars, 7 November 2026