Pakistan auto sales have recorded a decline of 13% YoY (down 13% MoM) in February 2019.
According to data released by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (Pama), total car sales declined to 19,712 units in February 2019, compared to 22,654 in the same month of the previous year.
Moreover, the total sales during the first eight months of the current fiscal year have come in at 162,692 units, which is down by 4.5% against 170,354 units in the same period of the previous year.
The drop was witnessed across all categories due to higher prices, higher interest rates with non-filer restriction and overall economic slowdown.
Meanwhile, month-on-month sales were down 13% from 23,562 in January 2019 which was due to the lower number of working days in February compared to January 2019.
Previously, the restriction on the purchase of new automobiles by non-filers of tax returns significantly dented sales of the companies. However, in the Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill 2019, which was endorsed by the National Assembly last week, the government completely withdrew the restriction. It allowed non-filers to buy new vehicles of any engine capacity.
Toyota
Indus Motors continued to demonstrate progress as its sales grew 8% year-on-year to 5,529 units in February 2019, from 5,108 units in the same month of the previous year as the strong (albeit thinning) order book continues to support sales stated Topline securities in its report.
For the first time in eight months, Fortuner sales rose 80% year-on-year, while Corolla continued its growth trend with 23% higher sales. On the other hand, Hilux sales fell 72%, the highest decline in 19 months.
Suzuki
Meanwhile, Pak Suzuki continued to report a year-on-year decline in sales, which fell 17% in Feb 2019 to 10,851 units.
Overall Suzuki’s sales decline was led by Mehran, Bolan, Swift, Cultus and Ravi respectively. However, Wagon-R was the only PSMC variant to record growth which was up by 16% year on year.
Honda
Sales of Honda vehicles recorded the worst year-on-year decline since April 2012, dropping 27% to 3,281 units. This coincided with the worst decline in sales of City and Civic variants, which fell 24%.
In addition to the economic factors, the decline in City and Civic variants can also be attributed to the expected launch of Civic 1.5 Turbo (substitute for Civic 1.8) in the coming months.
