As Pakistan’s economy moves to recoup losses borne on account of Covid-19, the automobile sector has registered modest growth with two out of the three main automakers reporting sharp increase in sales.
According to the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), car sales rose 29% to 14,054 units in October 2020 compared to 10,853 units in October 2019.
Topline Securities analyst Fawad Basir pointed out that if sales of Lucky Motor Corporation (non-member of PAMA) were added to the equation, car sales would be up 43% on a year-on-year basis.
Indus Motor Company reported the highest rise in sales as it dispatched 120% more units in October 2020 compared to October 2019. The company sold 5,481 cars last month compared to 2,496 cars in same month last year.
Sales of Honda Atlas Cars soared 60% to 2,230 units against just 1,384 units in October 2019.
Pak Suzuki Motor Company reported a 13% decrease in sales during the month as it dispatched 6,054 cars in October 2020 against 6,973 cars during the corresponding month of previous year.
“Sales of Pak Suzuki Motor Company declined due to drop in Alto’s sales by 29% year-on-year (last year Alto saw high numbers due to its recent launch) and drop in Cultus sales by 31% year-on-year,” said the analyst.
He added that car sales increased 1% month-on-month in October 2020. According to him, the increase was driven by Indus Motor Company as sales of Yaris model increased 26% month-on-month.
Honda witnessed a negative growth of 18% on a month-on-month basis as sales of City and Civic variants declined most likely due to availability of newly launched Yaris, he said. “We expect demand for cars to grow stronger owing to lower interest rates for automobile financing along with a pick-up in economic activity,” the analyst said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 12th, 2020.
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