KARACHI, Jan 10: Honda Atlas Cars and Dewan Farooqui Motors continued to show dismal performance in terms of car sales which dropped by 42 per cent each during the last six months (July-December 2006) as compared to the same period of 2005.
However, the Indus Motor Company (IMC) and the Pak-Suzuki Motor Company Limited maintained their robust sales during the last six months, with 31.33 per cent and 18.41 per cent jump in their sales as compared to July-December 2005.
Based on the above figures, released by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) on Wednesday, the overall sales depicted a mere rise of seven per cent to 75,769 units in the last six months as compared to 71,027 units.
A total of 22,972 cars of Toyota Corolla and Daihatsu Cuore were sold in the last six months as compared to 17,491 units, while the sale of Pak-Suzuki jumped to 42,754 units as compared to 36,106 units.A total of 8,204 units of Honda Civic and City were sold as compared to 14,253 units, while Dewan Farooqui Motors could only sell 1,843 units of Hyundai Santro as compared to 3,177 units sold in July-December 2005.
The overall production of locally-assembled cars witnessed an increase of 6.09 per cent to 77,452 units from 73,005 units in July-December 2005.
The PAMA figures revealed that the Hyundai Santro production has been facing turbulence since August as 114 units could be sold in the month, followed by 13 units in September, 77 units in October and 90 in November. In December 2006, not a single unit was rolled out.
Despite a declining trend in Suzuki Liana production and sales from September to November 2006, the company has seen some hope with lifting of 851 units in December 2006 alone.
Honda Civic production improved in December with 369 units as compared to 185 units in November 2006, but its sale did not pick up as per company’s expectations.
Similarly, Honda City production was recorded at 703 units in December 2006 as compared to 593 units in November 2006, but its sales in December 2006 plunged to 596 units from 979 units in November 2006. Overall the two products of Honda were facing stiff competition with Toyota Corolla, Suzuki Liana and used cars like Toyota Vitz, Toyota Platz, Honda Accord, Toyota Jeeps etc. High price of Honda Civic could be the main reason for not clicking the mind of prospective buyers.
A total of 11,930 units of Suzuki Cultus, 10,113 units of Alto and 17,044 units of Mehran were sold in July-December 2006 as compared to 8,985 units of Cultus, 7,266 units of Alto and 16,771 units of Mehran in the same period of 2005.
Director, Corporate Planning and Customer Relations, Indus Motor Company (IMC), Shah Saad Hussain said car sales used to show 25 to 30 per cent growth a year back, but it had been on the declining path for the last few months. It had come to single digit in July-December 2006.
“I think that influx of used cars in the last one-and-a-half years is still hurting local industry in terms of sales as people are still fascinated over the huge stocks of used cars parked at showrooms,” he said. However, there had been a decline in the import of used cars since the announcement of budget in June but market is full of unsold stocks which create second thoughts among prospective buyers.
He said that the IMC had faced a negative impact of the arrival of used cars in its Toyota Altis sales as people prefer having used cars and jeeps of two to three years old in the same price of Altis. Toyota Diesel sales was also affected, but it is now recovering.
He said rising car financing has also hurt sales to some extent, but currently locally-assembled cars, being purchased through car-financing by banks, are still affordable.
