KARACHI: The outstanding auto loans grew for the 13th consecutive month, reaching Rs319 billion at the end of December 2025 from Rs318bn in November, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data revealed.

The December 2025 growth appears slow compared to previous months, as buyers opted to delay vehicle purchases due to the change in model year and new registration.

However, this recovery remains modest compared to June 2022, when annual car sales volumes were around 240,000 units, and auto financing peaked at Rs368bn.

Topline Securities CEO Mohammed Sohail said: “New models and falling interest rates will keep the auto financing pace despite the Rs3 million limit.”

Auto sales (cars, SUVs, pickups and vans) during 6MFY26 swelled by 46pc to 88,322 units from 60,676 units in 6MFY25, driven by new entrants, easing inflation, low interest rates and improving macroeconomic sentiment.

Auto sales may remain robust in the coming months due to a massive increase of 144pc in imports of semi and completely knocked down kits by the assemblers to $982m in IHFY26 from $402m from a year ago despite claims of achieving higher localisation.

As assemblers further gear up for new models in 2026, Sazgar Engineering Works Ltd (SEWL), in a stock filing on Tuesday, has said that it shall commence the bookings of completely knocked down (CKD) models of “TANK-500 Hi4-T 4X4 2.0L Turbo AT PHEV and HEV” from Jan 26.

Azeem Akhundzada at Sherman Securities said that competitive pressures in Pakistan’s passenger vehicle market have intensified further with JAECOO’s launch of the J5 HEV at a highly aggressive price of Rs7.6mn, making it the cheapest HEV SUV currently available in the market.

This pricing places the J5 in direct competition not only with HAVAL Jolion HEV and H6 HEV, but also with HR-V HEV, Corolla Cross HEV, KIA Sportage HEV, and even high-end sedan variants such as Toyota Altis, which are priced in a similar range.

With SUVs dominating recent launches and price competition becoming the primary differentiator, he expects that competitive landscape to remain structurally challenging for listed assemblers.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2026