ISLAMABAD:

Proton Pakistan has failed to return nearly Rs600 million to its customers after the carmaker could not deliver booked vehicles.

This car brand is being sold in Pakistan by the Al-Haj Group, which also runs an oil and gas exploration company. Proton is a Malaysian automobile brand.

Proton Pakistan, considered a competitor of Kia, MG and Hyundai, offers car models like Saga sedan, X50 and X70. The brand made its entry into Pakistan when Imran Khan was the prime minister. This group also made inroads into the oil and gas exploration sector.

Sources told The Express Tribune that Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan and new chief executive officer of the Engineering Development Board (EDB) initiated necessary action to

a the consumers. They pressed the management of Proton Pakistan to either deliver cars or refund the money received from the consumers for vehicle bookings.

The company had received a total of Rs890 million from customers. However, it could not deliver the vehicles and even refused to refund the amount. Following intervention from the PM aide and the EDB CEO, the automaker started refunding the amount.

According to sources, the company has so far returned Rs300 million to customers. It has given assurances to release the remaining amount as well. Proton management did not respond to the request for comments on the story.

The Ministry of Industries has also received complaints against other automakers, which are holding a huge amount of customers but have failed to deliver cars. Sources said that the government had planned to take strict action against such carmakers which defaulted and could not hand over vehicles to their customers.

Under the auto policy, the government has made it mandatory for auto manufacturers and assemblers to pay interest to customers if vehicle deliveries are delayed by more than six months.

Sources revealed that there were cases where the customers had been struggling for years to get their booked vehicles. Automakers were neither willing to deliver cars nor were ready to return the amount.

The new EDB CEO has started cleaning the mess created by the old management to pocket millions from consumers. The EDB acts as a regulator of the auto industry and its role is also to safeguard the interests of consumers.

The government had introduced a new auto policy aimed at offering incentives to new entrants to break the monopoly of Japanese carmakers including Suzuki, Honda and Toyota. However, the new players were allegedly swindling their customers.