Car sales slump 30pc y/y in September as prices, financing bite

KARACHI: Car sales fell 30 percent year-on-year in September, as high prices and tight financing dampened demand, industry data body showed on Wednesday.

The Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) said its members sold 6,410 cars in September, down from 9,213 in the same month last year. However, sales rose 8 percent from August, when they were affected by import issues.

For the first quarter of the fiscal year 2023/24, passenger car sales dropped 44 percent to 16,021 units, compared with 28,571 units in the same period last year.

Sales of 1,300cc and above cars sales were recorded at 2,939 units, down 38 percent compared with last year’s sales of 4,715 units. However, it increased by 27 percent against 2,310 units in August.

During this period, 1,000cc cars recorded sales of 691 units against 1,517 units during the same month last year. Below 1,000cc vehicles recorded a sale of 2,780 units, down 7 percent against 2,981 units of last year. This category of cars also recorded a month-on-month decline against 2,935 units in August.

The sale of buses and trucks decreased to 185 units in September 2023 from 378 units in September 2022. Sales increased on month-on-month basis against 167 units in August.

The sale of jeeps and pick-ups decreased to 1,902 units from 2,075 units sold during the same period last year. This category also saw an increase in month-on-month basis. Sales of tractors rose to 5,445 units from 2,149 units in September last year.

The sale of rickshaws and motorbikes increased to 107,084 units during September 23 against 99,581 units in the same period last year.

Analyst Sunny Kumar at Topline Securities said including car sales clocked in at around 10K units, up 9 percent month-on-month and down 23 percent year-on-year.

Kumar said the monthly increase in car sales was due to the easing of import issues for completely knocked down (CKD) kits, which are used for assembling cars locally.

“However, escalating car prices, expensive auto financing and the low purchasing power of consumers are among the primary reasons for the decline in year-on-year sales,” he added.

Honda Atlas Car (HCAR) recorded the highest increase of 99 percent month-on-month, reaching 1,342 units in Sep-2023, primarily due to the low base of the previous month when the company sold only 674 units.

Pak Suzuki (PSMC) was the only one that recorded a decline of 1% month-on-month to 4,234 units in Sep-2023 led by 8 percent month-on-month decline in sales of Alto. Other variants including Ravi, Bolan and Cultus recorded increase of 58 percent month-on-month, 38 percent month-on-month and 9 percent month-on-month respectively. Swift and Wagon-R sales remain flat month-on-month at 506 and 359 Units in Sep-2023.

Hyundai sales remained up 5 percent month-on-month where Porter sales were up 48 percent month-on-month to 177 units in Sep-2023.

Indus Motors (INDU) sales are up 3 percent month-on-month led by an increase in sales of Fortuner and Hilux by 27 percent month-on-month.

Amongst Tractors, Al Ghazi Tractors (AGTL), and Millat Tractors (MTL) recorded an increase of 50 percent month-on-month and 29 percent month-on-month respectively in Sep-2023. This takes total tractor industry sales in 1QFY24 to 12,090 units up 64 percent YoY due to the low base of last year amid floods.