1990s started with change of time; if I recall during the 1990s every year had a significance in cars scene and had something to offer for the petrol heads
1990 Left Hand Drive - In 1990 Iraq attacked Kuwait and what did that mean? we started looking at all those fancy cars that were previously only seen in English movies; not only that but a lot of those people wanted cash for survival and because they only had their cars as an asset so they sold those cars dirt cheap, all those left hand drive huge cars with their V6s & V8s became a common sight.
1991 Localization of Suzuki - In 1991 Suzuki decided that they need to localize their brand names to connect more with the local market; it was a smart move which is still being used for older models however it didn't carry forward with their newer lineup. At that time Suzuki lineup changed to represent different areas of Pakistan as following:
Suzuki Alto became Suzuki Mehran (Sindh)
Suzuki Swift became Suzuki Khyber (NWFP)
Suzuki Pickup became Suzuki Ravi (Punjab)
Suzuki Van became Suzuki Bolan (Baluchistan)
Suzuki SJ410 became Suzuki Potohar (The mountain range of upper Punjab)
It was simple time and Potohar; Bolan & Ravi only came as standard version without air conditioner while Khyber & Mehran were offered with optional air conditioner.
1992 BMW time - 1992 was the time when BMWs for the first time became a common site in Pakistan. It was then because of Redco group the importer of BMW then and owned by a politician. All the E36s we see today are the ones brought in in that year.
Other than that after the successful renaming of Suzuki cars by Pak Suzuki they finally introduced their Suzuki Swift Sedan in 1992 which was named as Suzuki Margalla (Capital city mountain range). Initially Margalla was offered with a 1000cc engine which was later replaced by a 1300cc engine both with optional air conditioner.
1993 Corolla is here - In the beginning of 1993 and end of 1992 Toyota Indus also joined the race with their best seller corolla; It was a E100 series Corolla and their seventh generation. It was then offered in two variants both 1300cc namely XE & GL while XE was the standard version and GL was the power pack version of the car.
1994 Civic reporting - Altas Honda joined the race in 1994 with EG series Civic which was fifth generation of Civic. It was then offered with a 1500cc carburetor engine and this car was then offered in three variants, EL was the basic standard one which didn't even have air conditioner, SX was the semi power pack while EX was their top of the line version.
It was around the same year that Toyota launched their Electronic Fuel Injection 1600cc variant namely 1.6 GLi and Mehran and Khyber received their first face-lift with full seat without headrest which stayed with Khyber till its last days and was changed in Mehran in 1999.
1995 Corolla was given first face lift - First half of 1995 uneventful however in the last six months of the year two things happened; Corolla got glamorized with their first face-lift with clear lens rear indicator and the other thing that happened was Honda offered a SE version of civic which we later discovered was the clear their existing CKD stocks of EG series since EK was just round the corner. Also the same time was the time when Margalla GLX (power pack) was introduced for the luxury deprived Pakistani customers
1996 VTi a status symbol - In 1996 when Honda Launched EK series Civic in Pakistan then that was the only car you could hear about, it was the status symbol, it was the car when people preferred calling VTi (variant) rather than calling it a Civic. Initially it was offered in four variants, the basic was called ELi, semi power pack was called SXi & the step down power pack was called EXi; all these three variants were offered with 1500cc PGMFi engines while the top of line VTi was powered by a 1600cc PGMFi VTEC engine. Later ELi & SXi were discontinued and optional automatic transmission was offered in EXi & VTi both.
When this was considered the most sensational news of the year in car industry Toyota played its move and offered corolla 2.0D the same year which was a 2000cc Diesel engine variant and sucked all the customers wanting economy
1997 Lets welcome Honda City - in 1997 Honda launched their small sedan Honda City to fill the requirement of 1300cc car in the market. it was the third generation Honda City (SX8) and since its launch City has been the most favorite car among the luxury hungry buyer with a limited budget. City was offered with 1300cc carburetor engine; EL was the basic version while EX was the power pack variant of the same.
Also in 1997 at the time of 50th Independence of Pakistan Pak Suzuki launched the face lift version of Margalla which was then called Margalla Plus, it was an attempt of Suzuki to fight back with Honda City.
1998 Hello Baleno - The new car the came to Pakistan was Suzuki Baleno which replaced the previous sedan Margalla. Baleno was offered with 1300cc EFi engine and at that time it was offered in three variants ELi (basic without AC); GLi (Air conditioned and cosmetically pretty looking) and GXi (Power Packed).
Earlier in the same year two more things had happened in automobile industry, first was Toyota started offering optional Automatic version of Corolla GLi & there came a 1500cc PGMFi powered sports version of City which was then called EXi NEO.
1999 Just VTi is not enough; Drive Oriel - in 1999 Honda played their next move; Face lift model of EK series was offered and not only that they also started offering optional sunroof in their VTi variant and VTi which was already a status symbol only gained more superiority among the local car industry.
Other than that; around the same year we started getting 3rd face lift of E100 corolla with clear lens headlights and Suzuki Mehran received another face lift which was then called Mehran Plus.
In the end I would like to conclude with saying that whatever Pakistani auto scene is today; 90s has a major role to play in it.
OA
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