Innovation Incubators in Pakistan — Part 5 of 12 · By Sameer Sami, Founder & Principal Attorney, SAMI & SAMI (Attorneys-at-Law)
“The next step is moving from assembling other people’s designs to designing Pakistan’s own.”
Pakistan’s automotive sector has grown from simple assembly into a real manufacturing base — decades of localization have built a base of hundreds of local parts vendors and, by industry estimates, millions of direct and indirect jobs.
Government estimates put localization at about 58–70% for most cars and over 80% for motorcycles; the proposed Automotive and Auto Parts Manufacturing Policy 2026–31, still under consultation, is expected to introduce formal localization targets.
The biggest remaining gap is upstream: Pakistan still lacks a strong domestic base in steel and industrial chemicals, and limited in-house R&D means most designs are still licensed from abroad.
Automotive and industrial incubators in engineering universities could target:
Local design and engineering capability for components currently imported wholesale.
EV battery, motor, and charging-component development, aligned with the National Electric Vehicle Policy.
Supplier R&D partnerships that let Pakistani vendors design parts, not just manufacture to a foreign blueprint.