KARACHI: Sales of locally produced cars swelled to 167,507 units in July-May 2015-2016 as compared to 136,723 units in the same period of last fiscal year.
Low interest rate, improving law and order situation and overall improvement in country’s economic situation can be attributed to rising sales of cars, said Mohammad Tahir Saeed at Top Line Securities.
Toyota Corolla, with longest delivery time, continued to be the highest selling car with the sale of 53,410 units as compared to 46,680 units last year.
Combined sale of Honda Civic and City remained weak, far lower than Corolla, and stood at 23,800 as compared to 21,134 units, revealed figures released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (Pama).
Suzuki Swift sales rose to 3,761 units from 3,220. In 1,000cc segment, Suzuki Cultus sales soared to 14,850 units from 12,750, while Wagon R sales reached 8,490 units from 4,707.
Suzuki Mehran and Suzuki Bolan sales hit to 34,691 and 28,498 units as compared to 27,580 and 20,579 units.
In LCVs, vans and jeeps, sale of Toyota Fortuner fell to 518 from 668 units followed by decline in Sigma Defender sale to 173 from 381 units.
Suzuki Ravi sales peaked to 28,339 units from 20,225 under Panjab Taxi Scheme. Toyota Hilux sales crawled up to 4,603 units from 4,137.
Pak Suzuki’s (PSMC) sales increased 33pc YoY to 118,629 units in 11MFY16, mainly led by Punjab Govt’s Taxi Scheme. Volumes remained flat MoM while they declined 22pc in May 2016 to 9,001 units due to completion of taxi scheme.
Indus Motors sold 58,531 units of Toyota Corolla in 11MFY16 versus 51,485 units last year. Sales marginally improved in May 2016 at 5,544 units.
Honda Cars 23,800 units were sold in 11MFY16 compared to 21,134 units in the same period last year. Sales improved 7pc to 2,507 in May 2016, but declined 9pc MoM.
Tahir Saeed said Honda City is the main contributor to overall sales of Honda Atlas Cars and volumes of Honda Civic are expected to dry out now. Buyers are likely to prefer the new model of Civic (10th generation).
Pre-booking registration for the same has already begun and the company is expected to launch the model shortly.
Chief Operating Officer of Indus Motors Company (IMC) Ali Asghar Jamali said due to low per capita income, only 16 out of 1,000 people in Pakistan currently have access to a vehicle, that is in stark contrast to 18 in India, 30 in the Philippines, 69 in Indonesia, 206 in Thailand and 361 in Malaysia.
In Pakistan, Altis is available for $20,900 and Altis Grande for $22,700 while in India Altis 1.8G is available for $24,740. In Thailand, Altis 1.8E and 1.8G are available for $24,000 and $28,000, respectively, while Altis 1.8GLX-S is available for $27,000 in China. These are final prices, inclusive of all taxes. Daily Dawn, 2016-06-11