I respectfully disagree. i can almost certainly say that living in Lahore for the past 5 years and Islamabad before that, I've never seen a Fortuner being used by a govt entity. Hilux, yes, fortuner, no.
Govt departments are already strapped for cash, I don't think anyone's buying an 8 million car for thousands of grade 19/20 officers. They mostly make do with Civics/Corollas.
I don't agree with private customers not caring about Sorento's generation either, the 4th gen is miles better than 3rd gen (at least on the surface) so ppl SHOULD care.
But who knows, lets see what happens.
I agree with this though, this is the only rationale that could justify such a decision. But i hope some of those discounts translate into benefit for the customer too.