Nexus Automotive (Pvt) Ltd was an importer and assembler of
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
products in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. The company was founded by M.A. Razaq, an expatriate Pakistani who retired as Corporate Vice President of General Motors Corporation, 1999. Balubaid Establishment of Saudi Arabia, a diversified group involved in automotive, real estate, and other industrial businesses, was an investor in the assembly business of Nexus Automotive. The company was privately owned, with ownership distributed between Pakistani and Saudi families. Nexus used the idle capacity at the Ghandhara Nissan Limited plant at Port Qasim to assemble vehicles, under a contract assembly agreement.
The project was estimated at 15 million US dollars and GM-Chevrolet provided support to ensure that the local components and the car assembly met GM quality standards. The company also planned to export its models to other countries in
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...
and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. The source of assembly kits and imported units is
GM Daewoo
GM Korea Company ( ko, 한국지엠주식회사) is the South Korean subsidiary of multinational corporation General Motors. GMK is also the third largest automobile manufacturer in South Korea. GM Korea's roots go back to the former Daewoo Mot ...
, a GM subsidiary in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
that supplies
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...
,
Opel
Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...
,
Suzuki
is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal co ...
, and
Daewoo
Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...
branded vehicles to markets including the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
,
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
. GM Daewoo is also the "corporate center of excellence" for GM's global small car platform, code-named Gamma. Current products exported by GM Daewoo include Chevrolet Spark, Aveo, Optra, Captiva, and Epica.
Model lineup
Previously, Nexus imported the
Chevrolet Optra The Chevrolet Optra is an automotive nameplate used by the Chevrolet marque for two different compact car models, in the following markets:
*Daewoo Lacetti (2004–2013), in markets such as Colombia, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Southeast Asia
*B ...
and Chevrolet Joy vehicles and marketed them nationally through their franchised dealer network. From December 2005, the manufacturing of Chevrolet Joy started in Pakistan. Other GM products sourced from the global GM network were also planned for introduction to the Pakistani local market.
Competition
Pakistan's automotive sector has experienced significant growth. The small car segment remains partially monopolized by PakSuzuki and other brands. In past, Government policies have consistently favored Paksuzuki, Toyota, and Honda due to which further investment has been blocked in the country. But now new policies are inviting new producers to enter the market. When Nexus Automotive was operating Gandhara Nissan (Nissan), Deewan Mushtaq (Hyundai and Kia), and Adam Motors had assembling operations in Pakistan.
Reasons for Failure and revival
The company struggled to make substantial sales in the market dominated by its competitors
Pak Suzuki Motors
Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMCL) is a Pakistani automobile company which is a subsidiary of Japanese automaker Suzuki.Toyota Indus Motor Company Limited and re-conditioned car imports. Despite being a new entrant, no incentive was granted to Nexus by the government similar to Adam motors. Eventually the sales dropped to the point where assembly became nonviable and the company exclusively focused on CBU (Completely Built Unit) imports during its final months. Nexus ceased operations in 2006.
It has been reported by the media that General Motors along with Volkswagen and Renault-Nissan may consider entering the Pakistani market again. The 2016-21 Automotive Industry Development Policy approved in March 2016 includes incentives for new entrants and non-operational units (such as Nexus, Gandhara Nissan, and Deewan Farooq). The new policy has increased the chances of these units resuming their operations in Pakistan.