21 January 2004	Wednesday	28 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 20: Except for decline in bus and sports utility vehicles (SUVs), the entire auto sector gave a robust performance in the first half of the fiscal 2003-04 , marked by rise in car production and sales by 71 and 74 per cent, respectively, and 75 and 79 per cent in motorcycles' production and sales.

Farm tractor production and sales also jumped by 50 and 57 per cent, followed by 15 and 13 per cent rise in production and sales of truck segment. Production and sales of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) rose by eight and 7.5 per cent.

According to date compiled by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), car production and sales recorded at 43,706 and 43,345 units, respectively, in July-December 2003-04, as compared to 25,531 and 24,932 units in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Notable increase was seen in production and sales of Suzuki Mehran, touching to 12,756 and 12,729 units, respectively, from 6,307 and 6,170 units. Suzuki Cultus' production and sales rose to 5,082 and 5,224 units from 3,547 and 3,433 units, while Alto 1000cc production and sales recorded at 3,019 and 3,087 units from 1,973 and 1,777 units. Baleno's production and sales swelled to 1,918 and 1,926 units as compared to 1,089 and 1,062 units.

Toyota Corolla production and sales increased to 9,667 and 9,333 units, respectively, from 5,000 and 4,766 units, while Daihatsu Cuore's production and sales registered at 2,603 and 2,482 units from 2,225 and 2,131 units.

Production and sales of Honda Civic showed a rise to 2,677 and 2,685 units, respectively, in the first half of 2003-04 from 2,314 and 2,443 units, while Honda City's production and sales touched to 2,928 and 2,846 units from 1,962 and 1,800 units.

Dewan's Hyundai Santro Plus production and sales jumped to 2,950 and 2,909 units, respectively, from 864 and 876 units. An analyst at Jehangir Siddiqui Capital Market says that the car demand is anticipated to remain firm ensuing from the recent surge in consumers loans, particularly auto loans by almost all the commercial banks. However, the State Bank in its first quarter report on 2003-04 predicted rise in car demand to 115,186 units by the end of the current fiscal year. Stiff competition is ahead among the auto makers for grabbing the market share.

Combine production and sales of two-wheeler sector (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Sohrab, Tri-wheeler and Qingqi) rose to 137,503 and 137,749 units, respectively, from 78,503 and 76,939 units in July-December 2002-03. Despite a stiffening competition with Chinese bikes, Honda continued to dominate the market by producing 90,507 units and sales touching to 90,264 in the last six months as compared to 57,518 and 58,221 units in the corresponding period of last fiscal.

Tractor production and sales (Fiat and Massey Ferguson) went up to 16,309 and 16,265 units, respectively, from 10,869 and 10,371 units due to increased loaning from the banks and improvement in the agriculture sector.

Truck segment (Hino, Nissan and Dong Feng) also performed well with production and sales rising to 946 and 893 units, respectively, from 160 and 195 units owing to economic growth in Pakistan relating to increase in movement of import and export goods.

In bus segment, the exit of Japan's popular Mazda truck from Pakistan can be termed as one of the reasons in plummeting overall production and sales by 15 per cent each to 645 and 626 units, respectively, in July-December 2003-04, as compared to 756 and 735 units in the same period of last fiscal.

Sindh Engineering Limited (SEL), previously assembling Mazda, has been manufacturing Chinese Dong Feng vehicles since July 2003, but only 40 units were produced as compared to 300 units of Mazda produced last year by SEL. Hinopak remained the market leader with production and sales of 558 and 554 units, respectively, as compared to 438 and 449 units, while production and sales of Ghandhara Nissan bus stood at 47 and 53 units as compared to 18 and 13 units.

In sports utility vehicles, the only Kia Sportage, assembled by Dewan, seemed to have lost its charm among buyers. Its production and sales plunged to 344 and 249 units, respectively, from 434 and 434 units in July-December 2002-03. The company has recently introduced a new version of the jeep with added features hoping to lure new buyers.

In the category of LCVs, overall production and sales of Suzuki Jeep Potohar, Bolan, Ravi, Toyota Hilux, Dong Feng and Hyundai Shehzore rose to 6,162 and 6,012 units, respectively.