Why So Many Mehrans Around

We are here in Pakistan, watch Suzuki completely dominating the automotive market. Pak-Suzuki holds more that 51% of automotive market share in Pakistan. Suzuki is so strong in Pakistan in its monopoly that it has ruled out all of its competitors out of business. Some people now call it the successful business strategy of Suzuki and
some call it the political dominance that it has in the country. Whatever the case may be, as it turns out, the success story of Suzuki a.k.a Pak-Suzuki does not come out to be very clean by the ground facts.

I will not touch the history of the Pak-Suzuki, when it was established or its products, simply coming to the point, the vision of Pak-Suzuki, on their official website says, "To be recognized as a leading organization that values Customers’ needs and provides motoring solutions with strong customer care." Now I kind of disagree with that, alright they are providing the motoring solutions which I really doubt that they provide enough plus along with strong customer care. 

I am not against Pak-Suzuki doing business in Pakistan, but the way they are doing business is what boggles the mind and for that I have one reservation and it is against their product named Mehran.

Mehran has been out there for more than 23 years now, this is one hell of a time. Technology changes, systems change, Governments change over a period of 23 years but here in Pakistan Suzuki never changed the model of Mehran. It is acceptable argument that it is doing business as it is, they do not need to the change but the fact is Pak-Suzuki not only did not change the model one bit but those who tried

to change it were perished and weren't allowed to do business, simply because of political dominance of Pak-Suzuki. Let me clear all that what I have just said.

You see the picture above is of the latest Mehran that is on sale right now, Now you people might have seen two more designs of Mehran rolling down the streets which are shown below, especially if you live in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. It is the Mehran that is being made by Chinese firm named Changhan also there is another company named Jiangnan. Both of these companies make exact copy of Mehran but simply make it much better than the Mehran that Pak-Suzuki sells here.

The one on the left is Changan's Mehran and the one on the right is Jiangnan's Mehran. The mentioned Mehrans were imported about three years ago in Pakistan, in total 100 units were imported and they had showroom on Murree Road, Rawalpindi. The car was far better than the one being sold my Pak-Suzuki at that time and it was Rs. 150,000 cheaper than the local Mehran. It had far more effective air-conditioner because it was of 660 CC Alto, it had spring suspension at the back so the ride was same as Suzuki Alto which was 1000 times better than local Mehran ( Local Mehran still has leaf spring suspension whereas in Alto they gave us the spring suspension ) and it had dashboard of international Alto and the best of all, it did not have its engine mounted directly on the chassis so it had fairly reduced engine vibrations. Below are some reference pictures.

The picture shows the spring suspension at the back of the Jiangnan Alto ( Chinese Mehran ), and it is exactly the same suspension which is being installed in Pak-Suzuki's Alto.

And there is the picture showing the dashboard of the Jiangnan's Mehran. You can clearly see that its similar to that of current Alto and it fits perfectly with very little modifications.












Now what did Pak-Suzuki do? The imported Mehrans ( 100 Units ) sold out within one month and Pak-Suzuki never let the second lot enter the country because they feared that it would give a great blow to the sales of the local Mehran. In order to compete against the Chinese Mehran effectively, Pak-Suzuki had to improve the local Mehran by great deal since they were keeping the Pakistani nation under darkness by selling the junk. So to cut short, the Chinese Mehran was never allowed to do business in Pakistan and so Pak-Suzuki's legendary junkyard grade Mehran "soldiered on" to keep its dominance in the local market.

What we want is either let the Chinese Mehran do the business and Pak-Suzuki justly compete with it or improve the standard of the current local Mehran, especially the rear suspension and the engine vibrations.

What I have typed in here is 100% authentic and if somebody wants to argue then he can freely do it in the comments but please no abusive language. Furthermore, I have seen and driven this car so there is no denying that very few units of the Chinese Mehran are still rolling in Rawalpindi/Islamabad.

Just for the reference I have also uploaded the rear suspension picture of my Alto so that you get an idea. As for the local Mehran's suspension, I don't need to post its picture as they will be numerous around you so you can see for yourself :) PEACE!!!