Car sales continue to ride smooth

Honda resumes production in March after three months.

KARACHI:

Car sales continued to ride on the smooth lane as sales increased 7% in March with the lower segment leading the way and Honda making its way back in the market after three months.

Sales stood at 14,469 in March against 13,579 units sold in the same period of the preceding year, according to data released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association.

The country’s largest car assembler Pak Suzuki witnessed growth of 16% on a yearly basis amid demand for all models swelling.

Suzuki Mehran and Suzuki Bolan posted growth of 34% and 48% respectively, primarily because of timely deliveries to Punjab on account of its yellow cab scheme, said Summit Capital analyst Sarfraz Abbasi. The provincial government aimed to deliver 7,500 cabs to successful applicants in the first half of the financial year.

Meanwhile, Swift sales almost doubled to 5,201 units as the car becomes a serious competitor to take over the throne of the top hatchback car held by imported Toyota Vitz, according to analysts.

With its existence days numbered, Alto made the most of it and posted its highest sales level of the financial year with 1,964 units. The company announced earlier that Alto’s production will grind to a halt before end of the current financial year.

Low-demand Liana’s production plant also came to life for the first time in 2012 and produced one car, data shows.

March also marked the month Honda’s production in Pakistan resumed after a gap of three months as parts started to flow in from Thailand. Civic production stood at 1,140 units while City’s still stood at a standstill.

Honda has been facing problems in its supply chain since October because of floods in Thailand from where parts are imported and then locally assembled.

Corolla’s market share was brought back to normal levels, as Civic making inroads again broke its monopoly in the high-end segment. Corolla, the country’s highest selling car, sales dropped to 3,774 units after being above the 4,000 mark for two consecutive months.

As far as the market Share, Pak Suzuki leads the market with 63% market share followed by Indus Motor and Honda Atlas Cars with 30% and 6%, respectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2012.