Automotive industry in Bangladesh
The automotive industry in Bangladesh is the third largest in South Asia.
Bangladesh has a few large car plants which assemble passenger cars from Mitsubishi and Proton, as well as commercial vehicles from Hino and Tata.
Motorcycles, auto rickshaws and the locally designed Mishuk three-wheeler are manufactured in Bangladesh.
History
Four wheelers
Pragoti Industries Limited (PIL) is among the oldest and largest automobile assemblers in Bangladesh.[1] The company has assembled over 50,000 vehicles since its inception in 1966.[1] In February 2010, Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi officially proposed to the Bangladesh government to locally assemble the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport in collaboration with Pragoti.[1] Operations commenced in August 2011, with an annual production output of around 500 units.
In 2009, the Malaysian Agate Group proposed to build a car manufacturing plant in Bangladesh in cooperation with Walton, which itself is preparing to produce motorcycles.[3] In the same year, car manufacturing company TagAZ announced that they would build their third factory in Bangladesh, aiming for exporting. The plant was supposed to be completed by 2012.[4] But the company fell in bankruptcy.
In March 2015, PHP Group and Proton announced plans to assemble Proton cars in Bangladesh.[5] A new Tk 400 crore assembly plant would be constructed in Chittagong to facilitate an annual production output of 1,200 units.[5] In May 2017, PHP Automobiles launched the Bangladeshi-built Proton Prevé.[6] The company intends to market the Prevé as an alternative to used imported cars which dominate the local market.[7]
In August 2018, Foton Motor, a Chinese vehicle manufacturer, announced to set up a plant in Bangladesh by next year to assemble commercial vehicles in a joint venture with ACI Motors [8]
In May 2019, Japanese automaker giant Mitsubishi Motors decided to invest $100 million in Bangladesh to produce its branded vehicles. The company will invest the sum at the Mirsarai Economic Zone in Chittagong, initially for assembling cars and will gradually upgrade the assembly plant to a full car manufacturing plant. [9]
Motorcycles and Scooters
Bangladesh started manufacturing of Motorcycles in 2000's. Walton made the first production of motorcycles in the country. Runner Automobiles was the second company to manufacture motorcycles in Bangladesh which was started in 2012. After then many other local companies got engaged in producing of motorcycles. Some local companies like RoadMaster Motors, Jamuna Automobiles are few of them
In 2014, Hero MotoCorp made a re-enter in Bangladesh market with the hands of local Nitol-Niloy Group and expressed their interests to set up a manufacturing plant in couple of years. In 2017, Hero MotoCorp launched their motorcycle manufacturing plant in a joint venture with their local partner Niloy Motors (A subsidiary of Nitol-Niloy Group)
In 2016, Runner Automobiles signed a collaboration agreement with UM Motorcycles to manufacture UM motorcycles in Bangladesh under the name of UM-Runner . The motorcycles will be manufactured at Runner's motorcycle manufacturing facilities at Bhaluka while UM International LLC will provide R&D support in technological & engineering fields as well as global component sourcing. Bangladeshi manufactured UM-Runner motorcycles entered the market in the second quadrant of 2018
In September 2012, A joint venture deal was signed between Honda and Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation to form Honda's first Bangladeshi subsidiary Bangladesh Honda Private Limited (BHL) . Honda has 70% stake in the joint venture. After then, Honda committed to set up a motorcycle manufacturing plant in the country. In November 2017, Honda made a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction of their motorcycle manufacturing plant in Munshiganj District, Dhaka Division in Bangladesh. In November 2018, Honda launched their first motorcycle manufacturing plant in Munshiganj
In 11 May 2019, ACI Motors Limited, the only distributor of Yamaha Motorcycles in Bangladesh, inaugurated Yamaha Motorcycle CKD Assembly Factory at Borochala, Sreepur, Gazipur with annual production capacity of 60,000 units. Yamaha Motorcycle CKD Assembly Factory was established by the direct collaboration of Yamaha Japan and the necessary equipment and technical supports are supplied by Yamaha Japan to ensure the quality in every stage of manufacturing. Two models will be assembled at the plant at first and manufacturing of motorcycles will start from 2020. [10] [11]
Automobile companies in Bangladesh
- Bangladesh Auto Industries Limited
- Bangladesh Honda Private Limited (a subsidiary of Honda)
- Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory
- Jamuna Automobiles
- Aftab Automobiles
- Niloy-Hero Motors (joint venture between Hero MotoCorp and Niloy Motors)
- PHP Automobiles
- Pragoti
- RoadMaster Motors
- Runner Automobiles
- Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited
- Rahimafrooz Automobiles
- Atlas Bangladesh Ltd.
- Uttara Motors Ltd.
- Singer Bangladesh Ltd.
- S.R. Motors Ltd.
- HS Enterprise
- Rangs Motors Ltd.
- Akij Motors
References
- "Pragoti Industries Ltd". Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC). Archived from the original on 2013-02-20. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
- Anthony Lim (9 August 2011). "Mitsubishi Pajero Sport production begins in Bangladesh". Driven Communications. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- "Malaysian group intends to build car plant". The Daily Star. 2009-09-01.
- "Bangladesh to become carmaker". The Daily Star. 2009-10-13. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
- Jonathan Lee (2015-03-20). "Proton Preve to be assembled in Bangladesh – report". paultan.org. Archived from the original on 2015-05-22. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
- "PHP-assembled Proton cars hit market". New Age. 3 May 2017. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- "PHP starts Proton car production in Ctg plant". The Financial Express. Dhaka. 3 May 2017. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- "China's Foton to assemble vehicles in Bangladesh". The Daily Star.
- "Mitsubishi to invest $100m to assemble cars in Bangladesh". The Daily Star.
- http://www.aci-bd.com/all-news/aci-motors-inaugurated-yamaha-ckd-factory.html
- "Yamaha bikes to be built here from next year". The Daily Star.