KARACHI: Car sales jumped 38 per cent in the first eight months (July-February) of this fiscal year to 121,934 units from 88,538 a year earlier, the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) said on Thursday.

However, sales fell to 14,027 units in February from 18,083 in January.

Combined sales of Honda Civic and City rose 12.5pc to 15,793 from 14,041 units. Suzuki Swift sales increased 14pc to 2,614 from 2,288 units.

Indus Motor Company increases Toyota Corolla prices by up to Rs60,000

Suzuki Cultus and WagonR sales grew 13.5pc and 123.5pc to 10,117 and 6,020 units during the period under review from 8,909 and 2,693 a year ago.

Suzuki Mehran sales jumped 33pc to 25,469 units from 19,085 in the face of imports of 660cc used cars.

Bolan, being delivered under Punjab Rozgar Scheme, posted 129pc rise in sales to 23,848 units compared to 10,411 units. Suzuki Ravi sales, another beneficiary of the scheme, rose 123pc to 23,540 from 10,261 units.

In jeeps and pick-ups, Toyota Fortuner sales fell 24pc to 368 from 484 units followed by 50pc dip in Sigma Defender sales to 173 from 344.

An analyst at brokerage firm Topline Securities attributed brisk auto sales to rise in auto-financing due to 42-year low interest rates, Punjab Rozgar Scheme, better law and order and overall improvement in economy.

Meanwhile, the Indus Motor Company (IMC) has increased prices of all its Toyota Corolla models citing change in specifications, barring Toyota XLI, by Rs20,000-60,000.

The IMC informed its authorised dealers that the new price would be effective from Thursday (March 10) for all the deliveries, including orders in hand, starting from May 2016.

The company has announced improvements in Corolla specifications from May 2016. However, it would share the details of specifications later with the dealers.

After adding Rs20,000, Corolla GLI manual and automatic transmission would cost Rs1.784 million and Rs1.859m, respectively. The new price of AT-1.6, Altis AT-1.8 and Altis CVT-1.8 would be Rs1.994m, Rs2.069m and Rs2.194m, showing a jump of Rs25,000.

The price of Altis Grande MT and Altis Grande CVT has been increased by Rs60,000 to Rs2.229m and Rs2.379m, respectively. In the 1,300cc and above segments, sales of Corolla rose 23pc to 39,069 units in July-February FY16 from 31,042 a year ago.

Customers seeking early delivery are buying the model by paying a premium of Rs100,000 on spot sales at showrooms.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2016