Car sales hit speed bump in July

Number goes down 12%, amounts to 13,932 units

KARACHI: Sales of cars, jeeps, vans and LCVs have declined by a notable 12% to 13,932 units in July 2016 against what it was in July 2015, the Pakistan Automobile Manufacturers Association (PAMA) reported Wednesday.

The Association added the manufacturers sold 15,909 units in July 2015. “We attribute this decline to extended holidays as a result of Eid which translated into fewer working days. The numbers were slightly lower than our estimate,” said Topline Securities analyst Hamza Raza.



“We expect car sales to remain robust in fiscal year 2016-17 (FY17) - despite the absence of the Taxi Scheme - since Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) would be launching a new model - Celerio (1,000cc category) - in the latter half of this year and Indus Motors (INDU) would continue to see strong demand due to its Corolla,” he anticipated. Honda Cars (HCAR) sold 2,121 units in the outgoing month registering 15% year-on-year (YoY) increase. “We believe that Honda City is the main contributor to HCAR’s sales growth; additionally, volumes of the new model of Honda Civic are expected to pick up considering demand from pre-booking and response at launch. Civic’s launch attracted attention from prospective buyers with more interest towards the 1.5L Turbo variant,” he said.



The brokerage house added the sales of PSMC fell 19% YoY in Jul 2016 to 7,633 units. The decline in overall units was due to culmination of Punjab Taxi Scheme earlier this year, as expected. “Excluding taxi units (Ravi and Bolan), sales have grown 36% YoY to 6,002 units.” INDU sold 4,178 units in Jul 2016, declining 2% YoY. “This can be attributed to lower number of working days compared to last year,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2016.

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