Car sales increase by 24 percent in eight months

Car sales increase by 24 percent in eight months

KARACHI: The sales of locally manufactured motor cars registered an increase of 24 percent during first eight months (July – February) 2020/2021 owing to pick up in economic activity and lower policy rate.

According to data released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) the sales of locally manufactured motor cars increased to 113,836 units during first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with 91,515 units in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited attributed the increase to pick up in economic activity resulting in high demand of automobiles. Further, lower policy rate also helped in growth of car sales.

A growth of 35 percent witnessed in February 2021 on year on year basis to 16,436 units when compared with 12,183 units in February 2020.

Analysts at Topline Securities said that Pak Suzuki (PSMC) has yet again successively taken the lead with a massive increase of 66 percent YoY.

The rise is primarily driven by Alto and Ravi with sales of 4,245 (+162 percent YoY) and 1,268 (106 percent YoY) units in Feb-2021, respectively.

Honda Car (HCAR) registered sales increase of 13 percent YoY, while INDU’s sales declined by 3 percent YoY.

New entrants into Pak Auto space, Hyundai Nishat sold 651 units in Feb-2021, while Lucky Motor sold ~2,500 units, as per our channel checks.

Passenger Car sales declined by 6 percent MoM in Feb-2021. The decrease in numbers has been on the back of decline in INDU sales (-20 percent MoM) largely due to seasonally high January sales and some supply-side disruptions.

Atlas Honda (ATLH) recorded motorbike sales of 104,005 units in Feb-2021, up 16 percent YoY. In 8MFY21, sales have increased by 19 percent YoY.