LAHORE - Auto sales witnessed a substantial growth of 17 percent to 111,552 units in 8MFY12 as against sales of 95,635 units in the corresponding period last year.
Experts attributed this strong growth to rise in home remittances and Yellow Cab scheme offered by the Punjab government.
As per Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) local automobile industry’s sales and production numbers, on monthly basis, unit sales remained flat compared to the previous month of Jan-2012. Historically, higher sales have been witnessed in January due to the New Year effect. Overall industry sales were higher because of low based effect improved agricultural income.
Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMC) has witnessed a 35 percent growth to 70,162units in 8MFY12 as against the sales of 52,067 units in the same period last year. Highest growth was observed in the sales of Suzuki Swift of 86 percent YoY to 4,500 units as against 2,420 units in the same period last year. Suzuki Cultus under the domain of 1000cc segment witnessed a handsome 38 percent YoY jump in its sales to 9,573 units in the comparison of 6,919 units in the same period last year, followed by Suzuki Alto whose sales also experienced a massive 32 percent growth to 9,854 units versus 7,438 units in the same period last year. Above all, Suzuki Mehran and Suzuki Bolan both segments posted growth of 37 percent YoY and 47 percent YoY respectively.
Indus Motor Company Limited witnessed 4 percent YoY growth in sales to 34,366 units in 8MFY12 as against 32,991units in the same period last year. Hilux, under pick up segment led the growth in sales of the company with a gigantic 88 percent YoY to 2,561units as against 1,374 units in the same period last year. Toyota Corolla posted an upsurge in sales by 6 percent YoY to 29,040 units as against 27,423 units in the same period last year. Cuore remained as the only segment of the company whose sales experienced a substantial decline of 34 percent YoY to 2,765 units as against sales of 4,194 units in the same period last year.
Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Limited has posted a biggest decline in its sales of 33 percent YoY to 7,024 units in 8MFY12 as against 10,444 units in the same period of previous year. The plunge in the sales of the Honda cars was primarily because of the substantially lower sales of its both brands Honda City and Civic. Sales of Honda Civic were decline by a massive 37 percent YoY to 2,781 units as against the sales of 4,446 units while sales of Honda City were lower by 29 percent YoY to 4,243 units as against 5,998 units in the same period last year.
The main reason behind the decline in the sales of was suspended operation from December 2011 to February 2012 on the back of unavailability of the parts owing to floods in Thailand from where the company imports CKD kits.
As far as the market share is concerned, Pak Suzuki Motor Company leads the market with 63 percent Market share followed by Indus motor company and Honda Atlas Cars with 31 percent and 6 percent market share in 8MFY12.
Experts maintain auto sales target of 172k units for FY12, which will be up by 17 percent from last year. However, the ban by the government on CNG fitted vehicles and budgetary proposals to allow commercial imports up to 10 years of age are key concerns for the sector.