Passenger car sales down 4.11 percent in 11 months

KARACHI: Passenger car sales dropped 4.11 percent to 192,863 units in the first 11 months of FY19 (July 18-May 19) from 201,134 units sold during the corresponding period last year.

According to data released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) on Wednesday, the cars sales in May 2019 remained at 15,428 units, down 9.65 percent month on month to 17,076 units in April 2019 and 15.33 percent year on year to 18,223 units in May 2018.

Analysts said that with the imposition of the suggested custom excise duty on all vehicles in the budget, the prices would go up, which would result in a decline in sales. A federal excise duty (FED) of 2.5 percent has been proposed on cars with up to 1000cc engine capacity. A 5.0 percent FED has been proposed for vehicles between 1001cc to 2000cc engines, while 7.5 percent FED would be imposed on cars with above 2000cc engines.

Mashood Ali Khan, former chairman, Pakistan Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAPAAM), said with depreciation of rupee, prices would further increase in coming months, and that would discourage buying. “Bank leasing will also not be feasible above 20 percent interest rate,” he added.

In the 11MFY19, 1300cc and above car sales increased by 1.71 percent to 93,885 units as compared with 92,299 units sold in the previous year.

Sale of Toyota Corolla increased by 9.29 percent to 52,314 units against 47,866 units, while sales of Honda Civic and City went down by 7.0 percent to 37,083 cars from 39,869 units, compared to the same period last year.

During this period, 1,000cc cars; Suzuki Cultus and Suzuki WagonR witnessed an increase of 13.4 percent to 51,763 units against 45,647 units.

In the 800cc cars category, sales dropped by 25.27 percent to 47,215 units from 63,188 units, as Pak Suzuki discontinued Mehran and launched 660cc Alto at PAPS 2019 in April this year. The company booked Alto for the corporate customers, but final price has not been announced and the vehicle has yet to hit the roads.

Analysts said that discontinuation of Mehran had a big impact on overall car sales, as 1300cc and 1000cc car sales increased, while customers waited for Suzuki Alto, which would record in the sales of the company.

Sale of trucks dropped to 5,488 units in 11MFY19 from 8,507 units during the corresponding period last year. However, sale of buses increased to 863 units from 687 units sold last year.

LCVs, vans and jeeps saw a decline of 40.45 percent to 7,009 units from 11,771 units during the same period last year. Toyota Fortuner sales dropped to 2,416 units from 3,772 while Honda’s BR-V dropped to 4,593 units from 7,999 units during the 11 months of this fiscal.

Sale of tractors also decreased by 30.18 percent to 46,771 units in these 11 months from 66,992 units during the corresponding period last year.