KARACHI: Despite unprecedented interest rates, unbearable auto financing, higher prices and political and economic instability, the combined sales of cars, jeeps, vans and pickups surged 81 per cent to 10,536 in January from 5,816 in December 2023.

However, the sales in the above segment remained 5pc lower compared to 11,124 units during January 2023.

According to the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) data, sales of cars, jeeps, vans and pickups plunged by 48pc to 49,990 during 7MFY24 versus 95,240 in the same period last fiscal year.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that escalating car prices, expensive auto financing, and the low purchasing power of consumers contributed to the decline in sales during the last seven months.

Auto dealers linked January’s overall sales to consumers’ prime focus on lifting vehicles for the new year registration purpose. A notable jump was recorded in Toyota Fortuner and Revo during January to 619 units from 130 units in December 2023. Dealers believe that they cannot quantify whether the huge demand for costly Toyota vehicles was because of the Feb 8 elections to run their political campaigns in these vehicles or the usual extra vehicle demand every January. However, sales of Total Fortuner and Revo remained depressed at 2,538 units in 7MFY24 as against 8,093 in the same period last fiscal year.

After the addition of the Toyota Cross Hybrid in the Indus Motors assembly line during January, the combined sales of Toyota vehicles including Corolla and Yaris swelled to 2,143 units in January from 554 in December 2023. A total of 7,422 units of Toyota vehicles were sold during July-Jan FY24 as compared to 13,784 in the same period last fiscal year.

New buyers also lifted 1,207 units of Honda Civic and City during December 2023 as compared to 787 in December 2022, while only 5,145 units were sold during July-January 2023-24 as compared to 10,526 in the same period last fiscal year.

The sales of Suzuki Swift, Hyundai Elantra and Hyundai Sonata remained subdued at 2,782, 597 and 486 units during seven months of FY24 as against 7,640, 1,455 and 751 units in the same period last fiscal year.

When other vehicles enjoyed a sales boom during January, buyers did not turn up to lift Suzuki Cultus, WagonR and Bolan, thus plunging their sales to 273, 320 and 135 units from 297, 409 and 326 units in December 2023.

Cultus, WagonR and Bolan sales during 7MFY24 fell to 2,181, 2,149 and 1,314 units from 5,686, 4,440 and 2,992 in the same period last fiscal year. WagonR production had also remained closed from November 2023 to January.

Despite recording lower sales of 16,388 units during 7MFY24 versus 27,658 in the same period last fiscal, Suzuki Alto 660cc sales rose to 2,983 in January from 2,099 units in December 2023.

Sazgar Haval performed exceptionally well by registering a sale of 2,226 vehicles in 7MFY24 as compared to 858 in the same period last fiscal. Hyundai Tucson sales came down to 1,957 units from 2,864 in 7MFY23 despite recording a sales jump to 298 units in January from 101 in December 2023.

Hyundai Porter sales soared to 947 units in seven months FY24 from 725 in the corresponding period FY23, while Suzuki Ravi sales declined to 1,773 from 2,900 in 7MFY23.

Sales of Fiat and Massey Ferguson tractors surged to 27,225 units in 7MFY24 from 14,919 in the same period last fiscal, signalling improvement in the agriculture sector.

Truck and bus sales witnessed a drop of 51pc and 39pc to 986 and 238 units from 2,025 and 392 in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Sales of two- and three-wheelers grew to 104,619 units in January from 82,362 in December 2023 but the overall sales in 7MFY24 remained flat at 646,440 as against 737,393 in the same period last fiscal year.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2024