KARACHI: Amid falling sales from May onwards and the suspension of bike registrations, Atlas Honda Ltd (AHL) on Monday came out with fourth price jump by Rs400-4,000 on different models.

The new prices would be effective from Oct 3 but the company did not mention the reason behind the move, dealers said. The CD70cc will cost Rs65,900 while the new prices of CD-Dream, Pridor and CB150F will be Rs69,900, Rs91,400 and Rs176,000, respectively. Prior to the current hike, AHL had jacked up prices thrice – first in January by Rs500-1,000, then April by Rs500-3,000 and finally in August by Rs600-5,000.

Honda had achieved record sales of 115,161 units in April but since then there has been a downward trend. In June, sales fell to 91,507 units, followed by 90,009 in July and 80,012 units in August. In comparison to that, 187,249 units were sold in July-August 2017. On the contrary, AHL’s Japanese competitors witnessed positive sales trajectory: Suzuki and Yamaha sold 3,738 and 4,282 units, respectively versus 3,278 and 3,397 units in July-August 2017.

Association of Pakistan Motorcycle Assemblers Chairman Mohammad Sabir Sheikh said bike registrations of all assemblers at Excise and Taxation Department, Sindh came to a halt on Oct 1. He said the production certificate issued by Engineering Development Board (EDB) expires on Sept 30 every year. Assemblers send applications for certificate renewal to EDB and usually get it by last week of September which is then submitted to the Excise Department. However, the Excise Department creates hurdles by suspending registration of bikes due to delay in getting certificates from assemblers, Sabir said, adding that departments of other provinces do not suspend bike registrations and keep the process open.

Instead of closing down registration of two wheelers, the Sindh government should give one month time to obtain certificate from the assemblers and keep registrations open, Sheikh continued.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2018