Sale of buses, bikes drops with surge in cars, trucks
By Aamir Shafaat Khan
KARACHI, March 19: The entire auto sector gave a mixed performance showing decline in buses and motorcycle sales by 3.2 per cent and 10.6 per cent, respectively, while sales of cars, truck, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and farm tractors surged by 6.8, 1.03, 16.2 and 7.47 per cent, respectively, in July-February 2006-07 as compared to the same period of last fiscal.
According to the figures released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), car sales rose to 101,664 units in July-February 2006-07 as compared to 95,161 units in the same period of last fiscal.
Honda cars and Hyundai Santro continued to show dismal performance. Honda Civic sales declined by 53.21 per cent to 4,330 units from 9,255 units while Honda City sales plunged by 30 per cent to 7,305 units from 10,378 units.
A total of 2,380 units of Santro were sold as compared to 4,511 units, down by 47 per cent in July-February 2006-07 as compared to corresponding period of last fiscal.
Sales of Honda Civic and City had been under tremendous pressure for the last few months due to stiff competition with the rival producer of Toyota Corolla coupled with import of used cars and jeeps at lower rates.
Santro has been losing its market because of used car imports mainly Toyota Vitz and Toyota Plats, Toyota Deut, and Mini Pajero etc.
A total of 22,683 units of Toyota Corolla were sold as compared to 18,696 units earlier while Cuore sales were recorded at 8,106 units as compared to 5,097 units. Sales of Suzuki Mehran, Cultus and Alto were 22,953, 16,387 and 13,415 units as against 22,367, 12,316 and 9,265 units, respectively.
A total of 562 buses (Hino, Nissan, Isuzu, Master and Dong Feng) were sold as compared to 581 units while truck sales produced by the same assemblers were slightly up by one per cent to 2,820 units from 2,791 units.
Sales of motorcycles (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Sohrab, Fateh Hero, Triwheeler and Qingqi) remained depressed, falling to 301,826 units as compared to 337,670 units. LCV sales increased to 22,509 units from 19,360 units while farm tractor sales rose to 34,038 units from 31,671 units. On increase in tractor sales, Chief Executive Millat Tractors Sohail Bashir Rana told Dawn from Lahore that so far the industry had been going stable in terms of sales and manufacturers have also increased their production capacity.
He said that the industry had yet to feel any serious impact due to duty free import of tractors allowed last year. He said that imported tractors had failed to lure buyers. However, he said due to increase in farm tractors the agriculture indicators appeared quite satisfactory. However, he said that the impact of decline in cotton production will be felt in coming months. He said 35 per cent of the tractors sales were made through commercial banks and Zari Taraqiati Bank while 65 per cent tractors are sold on cash.
On sales bus and truck, Director Sales and Marketing Hinopak Motors Mohammad Irfan Shaikh said that the bus industry had started recovering from January 2007 but it had experienced very bad days during July-December 2006 due to very poor response from the private operators of buses on public route.
He said the situation had improved from January-February 2007 as booking orders were pouring in from private operators and from the Punjab government for plying buses under Urban Transport Scheme (UTS). He said that in trucks, the industry had been surviving despite the import of used trucks in Pakistan.
Chief Executive Dewan Farooqui Motors Farooq Mustafa said that the locally produced Hyundai Santro had become one of the victims of frequent imports of used cars, thus losing its share to especially the used Toyota Vitz.
However, he said that buyers of the used cars were now well aware as they have suffered a lot due to non-availability of parts, lack of after sales service and low resale value. He said that Santro sales had shown recovery from Jan-Feb 2007 and hopefully it will perform well in coming months.
