Pakistan’s auto industry has evidently slumped as sales were down for the second consecutive time in May 2o21.
The recently released data by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) shows that the auto industry had registered 15,696 vehicle sales in May, resulting in a Month-on-Month (MoM) decrease of 9 percent as compared to April, but a sales increase of 240 percent on a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis as automakers had sold only 3,800 units in the same period last year due to the devastating first wave of the pandemic.
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The data shows that the Toyota Indus Motor Company (IMC) had sold 4,676 vehicles in May, recording an MoM sales decrease of 12.7 percent. Honda Atlas Cars had sold 2,001 vehicles the previous month, recording an MoM sales decrease of 12.5 percent, and the Pak-Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) had recorded an MoM sales decrease of just 3.5 percent, selling 8,307 units last month.
Hyundai Nishat had sold 637 units in May as compared to 896 units in April, recording an MoM sales decrease of 28.9 percent. As Kia Lucky Motors is not yet in the PAMA, the company has not disclosed any figures for a public review.
Here is how some of the popular vehicles did in terms of sales in May 2021:
| Passenger Vehicle Sales | ||
| PSMC | ||
| Passenger Cars | Units Sold in April 2021 | Units Sold in May 2021 |
| PSMC | ||
| Cultus | 1,312 | 1,820 |
| Alto | 4,019 | 3,375 |
| Wagon R | 1,447 | 1,491 |
| Bolan | 747 | 764 |
| Swift | 181 | 31 |
| Toyota IMC | ||
| Corolla | 1,724 | 1,514 |
| Yaris | 2,600 | 2,099 |
| Fortuner | 364 | 318 |
| Honda Atlas | ||
| City & Civic | 2,053 | 1,581 |
| BR-V | 234 | 420 |
| Hyundai Nishat | ||
| Tucson | 503 | 255 |
| Elantra | 280 | 259 |
Note that Suzuki Swift is one of the cars that was sold in the lowest numbers as compared to those in April, mainly because the PSMC has not produced any units of Swift in the last two months in order to sell those that have already been produced. This could also mean that the launch of the new generation Swift is fairly close.
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Furthermore, Honda Atlas also sold significantly fewer units of the City & Civic because the old City must have been completely sold out or because the public is waiting for the new City to come out.
Other than that, the decline in sales was to be expected due to several global logistics and trade hurdles in the auto industry, with Pakistan being no exception to the slump in the business around the world.