Industry Automotive Products Passenger cars Founded 18 December 2002 | Fate Defunct Headquarters Karachi, Pakistan Ceased operations December 31, 2009 | |
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Key people Feroz Khan, Chairman & CEO Motto Daring to Terrorise the Roads. | ||
Adam Motor Company, Ltd. was an automobile manufacturer based in Karachi, Pakistan. They were notable for producing the Revo, which was Pakistan's first indigenously designed car. Production ceased in 2006 and their assets were put up for sale.
Initially Adam Motor was involved in assembling light trucks from Chinese components, followed by a four-wheel drive sports utility vehicle.
Adam Motors, the makers of Revo, launched the car on April 18, 2005 with high hopes. However, the company sold just 600 units before it broke down owing to a lack of working capital. Former prime minister Shaukat Aziz inaugurated Revo’s plant in 2003, located a few kilometres from Karachi, owing to which most units were sold in the city.
According to Khan, Aziz promised him to buy his car for the government as it was the cheapest in the country. The government could have easily bought 5,000-10,000 cars a year but it never fulfilled its promise and that, according to Khan, was one of the major reasons why the project collapsed.
When launched, Revo’s price was Rs269,000 — cheaper by Rs46,000 when compared to the more popular choice of Suzuki Mehran.
Asked whether he could re-launch Revo, Khan reluctantly said that it could “within 15 months after studying the current needs of the industry”.
Khan’s reluctance to take another risk is understandable. He still owes Rs230 million despite paying a large part of the Rs1-billion debt he accumulated in launching Revo.
If Adam Motor re-launches Revo, then its price would be around Rs600,000 owing to the depreciation of the Pakistani rupee since 2005, Khan said.
The current price of Suzuki Mehran is Rs686,000.
“This is a better time to produce a local car as prices have gone up way too high owing to the expensive imported parts,” said Khan. “But I must say that I am fearful in re-launching Revo because of this country’s politics.”
Despite difficulty in procuring its spare parts, one can still find Revo on roads after all this time.
Those who still use the car say some of the attractive characteristics of Revo are its strong body and spacious interior.
Khan believes Pakistan can achieve more milestones in the future because of the position where its auto industry stands today. However, for that to happen, the local industry needs to work hard especially if it wants to prepare itself for regional competition.