Ghandhara Automobiles Bets Rs2.3 Billion on Robotic Paint Technology in Major Karachi Plant Upgrade

KARACHI: Ghandhara Automobiles paint shop is heading for a Rs2.3 billion technology overhaul as the automaker steps up factory automation in Karachi. The investment will introduce a Robotics Top Coat Line designed to sharpen paint quality, raise productivity and improve cost efficiency.

Productivity. Operational efficiency. Those two words anchor the plan's stated purpose at the paint shop. Completion targets the third quarter of FY2026-27. Paint quality improves, the company says. Productivity rises. Costs come down. Three outcomes, one robotics line, Rs2.3 billion behind it though the filing stops short of breaking that figure down between the installation itself, facility upgrades, and anything else bundled into the project. Ghandhara says it will keep shareholders posted as things develop.

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This robotics push doesn't arrive in a vacuum. Ghandhara's FY2025 annual report shows the paint shop processing 7,590 truck cabs and pickups, up from 3,099 the year before, a jump of roughly 145 percent. Total assembly told a similar story: 5,727 trucks, buses and pickups rolled out in FY2025, against 3,024 in FY2024. Nearly double the output, in other words, in a single year.

Put those numbers next to Rs2.3 billion and a clearer picture emerges. This isn't a company patching up ageing equipment. It's a company whose factory floor has already been running harder, now committing serious capital to keep pace.

Not the First Time the Paint Shop Has Made Headlines

The paint shop has been here before. Back in early 2023, Ghandhara extended an assembly-plant shutdown indefinitely, blaming extensive upgradation activities in the paint shop at the time. Does this new project pick up where that earlier round left off? Or does it mark something else entirely? The current announcement doesn't say. It doesn't mention 2023 at all.

Why Robotics Matters Here

Robotic top-coat application isn't a novel idea globally spray thickness stays consistent, material waste drops, cost per unit falls. What stands out is the scale of commitment relative to the company doing the committing. For a mid-sized assembler, a Rs2.3 billion outlay on a single manufacturing function makes this far more than a routine paint-shop upgrade. Coming right after a year in which cab processing volumes climbed 145 percent, the timing reads less like coincidence and more like a company reinforcing capacity it's already using.

Financing details stay absent from the announcement. Internal cash, borrowing, some combination of the two nothing indicates which route Ghandhara will take. The company's promise to keep stakeholders updated leaves that question, along with the project's implementation timeline, for later disclosures to answer as the FY27 third-quarter deadline approaches.