Bangladesh to Roll Out Its 1st Car Next Year

Next year, Dhaka will roll out its first 'Made in Bangladesh' cars, said Industry Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun.

The Development Policy 2020 for the Automobile Industry will be finalised very soon. "We're going to start manufacturing cars in Bangladesh next year," the minister said in an exclusive Thursday interview with UNB.

According to the Minister, with technical assistance from Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, the state-owned Pragati Industries Limited will begin the production of automobiles.

Nurul Majid also said that he had been told at a meeting by Japanese Ambassador Ito Naoki that the car industry entrepreneurs of the East Asian region, like Mitsubishi Corporation, "are interested in growing investment in Bangladesh."

“He (Ito Naoki) also said that Japan would provide technical assistance for the production of Bangladesh's own brand of motor vehicles. He also offered to assist Bangladesh in developing the vendor industry related to automobile and light engineering industries and setting up an Automobile Testing & Research Institute in Bangladesh,” the Minister said.

The Ministry of Industries has already formulated a time-bound action plan for the development of the automobile and other industries in the country. “This action plan will play an important role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI)," Nurul Majid said.

On the advantages of domestic car production, he said that foreign cars cost more for end-users due to import duty that's quite high in this country.

“If made in this country, car prices will also decrease. People will be able to buy it at affordable prices. If the country produces its own brand of automobiles, there will be no shortage of buyers too,” he said. 

The Minister also described the youths of the country as "an innovative workforce". “If this industry is developed by utilising them, the opportunity to export motor cars and motorcycles to the world market will also be created after meeting the domestic demand," he said.