KARACHI: Sales of loca­lly produced cars, vans, light commercial commercials (LCVs) and jeeps jumped by 32 per cent to 83,809 units in the first four months (July-October) of this fiscal year.

Assemblers of these vehicles sold 23,341 units in October, up 46pc year-on-year and 24pc month-on-month, showed data released by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) on Monday.

Rai Omar Basharat at Topline Securities said if the robust sales continue then the sales would touch 236,000 units (up 10pc year-on-year).

Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (PSMCL) was a big beneficiary as majority of used car imports fall under lower engine capacity segment. The company sales rocketed 53pc year-on-year as price-conscious models Mehran (up 41pc), WagonR (141pc) and Cultus (23pc) all exhibited strong sales.

PSMCL’s cumulative sales were up 36pc to 46,941 units in 4MFY18.

Honda Atlas Cars (HCAR) sales (Civic, City and BR-V) normalised to 4,506 units, rebounding 31pc month-on-month (50pc YoY). The 4MFY18 sales grew 55pc to 17,110 units due to success of new models Civic/BRV and recently revamped City.

Indus Motors Company lagged behind peers with Toyota’s sales increased just 4pc month-on-month and 28pc year-on-year as it continued to face capacity constraints. The 4MFY18 units sales went up 10pc.

Sales of Massey Ferguson and Fiat tractors during 4MFY18 reached 13,318 and 8,385 units from 7,628 and 4,627 units in 4MFY17.

Mr Basharat said lower GST on tractor purchase, fertiliser cash subsidy, along with Rs2bn subsidy on tractor purchase, annou­nced by the Sindh government in its budget 2017-18, improved overall tractor sales going forward.

Overall truck sales rose to 2,917 units in July-October 2017-18 from 2,183 units in the same period last year despite massive fall in Nissan truck demand to 18 units from 279 units.

He said this trend in truck sales would continue fuelled by CPEC, higher road connectivity, low financing rate, change and enforcement of axle load limit on highways by National Highway Authority.

Bus sales, however, fell to 259 units in the July-October period from 397 units in corresponding period last year in which Hino bus sales stood at 140 units as against 302 units.

Motorcycle/three-wheeler sales grew 18pc in October due to rising disposable income of lower-middle class. Cumulative 4MFY18 sales were up 74pc.

Atlas Honda Ltd sold 360,516 units in the last four months as compared to 290,485 units in same period last year.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2017