A cement company is about to start selling electric cars in Pakistan. Thatta Cement Company Limited has approved a move into the electric vehicle business, with plans to import affordable Chinese electric cars through a new subsidiary — one of the most surprising diversification moves by a listed Pakistani company this year.
The board of the Karachi-listed cement maker approved the investment on 4 November 2026, according to a filing with the Pakistan Stock Exchange reported by Business Recorder. The announcement came alongside the company’s annual results, which showed profit slipping even as sales grew by more than a fifth.
What Thatta Cement actually announced
The board approved capital investment into a newly formed, wholly owned subsidiary, and that subsidiary’s first job will be to bring completely built-up electric cars into Pakistan from China. The focus, according to the filing, is on compact and affordable models aimed at the ordinary Pakistani buyer rather than the premium end of the market.
The company has also left the door open for local assembly later, which would follow the pattern set by other new entrants that start with imports and then build locally. For now, though, the plan is imports only. Thatta Cement electric vehicles will arrive as finished cars from Chinese factories, with no local production line announced yet.
Why a cement maker is betting on electric cars
The disclosure pointed to three forces behind the decision: growing consumer interest in electric vehicles, a wave of new international brands entering Pakistan, and favourable government tax concessions for EVs. All three are visible in the market right now. Airlink’s AirV electric bikes launched in Lahore on 4 November with 11 models, Geely unveiled three electric models through Bestway in late October, and Chery’s electric cars have already reached its Karachi plant.
There is also a defensive logic to the move. Thatta Cement’s annual results show a company whose sales are growing strongly — gross sales rose 21.04 per cent to Rs16.16 billion — while profit after tax slipped 2.9 per cent to Rs2.28 billion. A second business line in a fast-growing market spreads that risk, and electric mobility is the fastest-growing corner of Pakistan’s auto sector.
What buyers still do not know
For all the excitement, the honest position is that buyers cannot yet buy anything. The filing names no Chinese brand or manufacturing partner, no model names, no prices, no investment figure and no launch date. Until those details appear, the Thatta Cement EV plan is a board approval and a stock exchange filing — not cars in showrooms.
The next fixed date to watch is the company’s annual general meeting on 27 November 2026 in Karachi, where shareholders may press management for the missing numbers. Any brand announcement, price list or booking date before then would be the real news; until that point, treat the story as a plan, not a product.
Pakistan’s EV wave is gathering pace
Thatta Cement is joining a crowded week for electric mobility in Pakistan. The Jaecoo J5 EV price reveal is due on 6 November — Pakistan’s first locally assembled battery-electric SUV — and the Mercedes-Benz CLA 200 EV launches the same day through Shahnawaz. Lucky Motors is targeting December 2026 to begin local assembly of GAC electric models at its Karachi plant.
The timing is easy to understand. Petrol is selling at Rs362 per litre even after three straight daily price cuts, the government is offering tax concessions on electric vehicles, and every week seems to bring a new EV name to the market. A cement maker selling electric cars sounded strange a year ago; in November 2026, it sounds like the market working exactly as expected.
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