Car sales in Pakistan registered a decline of 39pc in Sept 2019, compared with the same month of last year.
This is primarily attributable to higher auto prices post rupee devaluation, higher interest rates for auto financing, and overall economic slowdown affecting disposable income.
Honda (HCAR) remained the biggest contributor to the industry’s decline, as its sales went down 68pc in Sept 2019, followed by Indus Motors (INDU -57pc) and Pak Suzuki (PSMC -18pc).
The significant attrition in INDU’s volumes was mainly due to a 59pc YoY decline in its Corolla variant, which historically has supported the company’s overall volumes and has been the consumers’ preferred choice in the sedan category. Similarly, the sales of Fortuner and Hilux plunged by 43pc and 32pc during the month under review.
HCAR suffered badly in Sept, as the sale of City & Civic fell by 66pc YoY amid a significant hike in their prices. BR-V continued to underperform as its sales were down by a whopping 82pc.
PSMC’s 18pc decline in Sept was led by Wagon-R, sales of which down 74pc YoY mainly due to the shift of customers’ interest towards Alto and recently launched Picanto by Kia Lucky Motors.
Alto recorded sales of 4,924 units for September, highest monthly sales since its launch. Although PSMC has recently raised prices of Alto by Rs70,000 – Rs85,000, but being an entry segment car, experts believe that it will perform well in the upcoming months as well. Bolan & Ravi variants were down 67pc and 73pc YoY, respectively. Swift sales were down by 59pc compared with the same period last year.
Atlas Honda (ATLH) registered a decline of 22pc, as its sales clocked in at 75,007 units, lowest in the last 26 months.
