Car sales plunge 38% in first half of FY23

• The sales reported a decline of 8 per cent to 16,984 units in December 2022.
• The motorbike sales also went down 6 per cent MoM and 27 per cent YoY in December.
• Atlas Honda (ATLH) recorded sales of 85k units, down 8 per cent MoM and 26 per cent YoY.

KARACHI: The sales of locally-manufactured cars have plunged 38 percent in the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year 2022/23 due to high prices, expensive financing and closure of production due to restrictions on the imports of auto parts.

The domestic car sales were at 84,088 units during the first half of the current fiscal year, compared with 135,976 units in the corresponding half of the last fiscal year, according to the statistics released by the Pakistan Auto Manufacturers Association (PAMA) on Wednesday.

Analysts at Topline Securities Limited attributed the decline to escalating car prices, expensive auto financing, and low purchasing power of the consumers.

Besides, they also attributed the fall in the sales to unavailability of the completely-knocked down (CKD) parts, amid the letters of credit (LCs) issue, which led to non-production days and year-end phenomenon where the consumers generally delay their purchases until the New Year, it added.

The sales reported a decline of 8 per cent to 16,984 units in December 2022, compared with 27,341 units in the same month of the last year.

Honda Car (HCAR) reported an increase of 5 per cent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis to 2,079 units in December 2022, whereas Indus Motors (INDU) reported a decline of 13 per cent MoM to 2,823 units in December 2022 due to non-production days.

Hyundai sales went up 37 per cent MoM, where Tucson went up 67 per cent MoM and Elantra went up 41 per cent MoM.

Pakistan Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) reported a decline of 8 per cent MoM to 11,342 units.

Among the tractors, Millat Tractors Limited (MTL) recorded a decline of 55 per cent MoM to 501 units in December 2022, primarily due to the plant closure. However, Al Ghazi Tractors Limited (AGTL) recorded a 4x MoM increase in sales to 514 units in December 2022. This takes the total tractor industry sales to 11,513 units in the first half of FY23, down 57 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis due to floods, plants shutdown, lower consumer buying power and higher prices.

The motorbike sales also went down 6 per cent MoM and 27 per cent YoY in December 2022.

Atlas Honda (ATLH) recorded sales of 85k units, down 8 per cent MoM and 26 per cent YoY.

The trucks and buses sales went down 16 per cent MoM and 15 per cent YoY to 286 units in December 2022. This takes the first half of FY23 sales to 1,947 units, down 36 per cent YoY, primarily due to a drop in the transportation activities and a slowdown in the overall economy.

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