February car sales up 31pc on year-start buying

KARACHI: Passenger car sales picked up 31 percent in February 2021 compared to same period last year, largely driven by low markup-induced late start-of-the-year buying, latest data showed on Thursday.

Numbers released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) showed passenger car sales grew to 13,570 units in February from 10,345 units sold during the same period in 2020. However, February sales were down 6.7 percent against 14,543 units sold in January.

Jeeps, tractors, pickups, three-wheelers and motorcycles saw their sales increasing.

One analyst said sales were higher in January as compared to February, as more buyers buy during the start of the year. Besides, February had fewer days than January.

The sales would likely increase amid low markups regimes by the banks, as leasing would go up, he said.

Cumulative sales in the first eight months (July-February) of the fiscal year 2020-2021 clocked in at 95,139 units, up 20 percent, against 79,534 cars sold last year.

In February, sales of 1300 CC and above cars increased 6.0 percent to 6,114 units, compared with 5,769 units sold in the same month a year back. This improvement can be attributed to an increased sales of Toyota Yaris (2,566 units) during the period under review. However, sales of Indus Motor’s popular Toyota Corolla continued its downward trend by declining 68 percent to 1,177 units against 3,715 units sold during February last, while sales of Honda Civic and City increased 17 percent to 2,192 from 1,868 units in the same period of 2020. Suzuki Swift sales dropped to 179 cars from 186 cars sold last year.

Sales of 1,000 CC cars, Suzuki Cultus and Suzuki WagonR, marginally increased to 2,298 units against 2,234 in the corresponding period.

Under 800 CC car sales surged 120 percent to 5,158 units in February against 2,342 units in the same month of 2020, led by Suzuki Alto, selling 4,245 units compared to 1,620 in February last.

Sales of buses and trucks dropped to 329 units in February from 402 in the same period a year earlier.

Sales of jeeps jumped 119 percent to 1,058 units from 484 units sold during the same month last year as Toyota Fortuner sales grew 30 percent to 275 units from 211 and Hyundai Tucson sales rose to 546 units.

Pickup sales increased to 1,808 units from 1,354 units in February 2020. Sales of tractors rose 42 percent to 4,450 units in February from 3,141 units during the corresponding period of 2020.

Rickshaws and motorbike sales grew 11 percent to 154,409 units in February from 139,007 units sold in the corresponding month of last year.

Syed Fawad Bashir, an analyst at Topline Securities, said new entrants like Hyundai Nishat sold 651 units in February, Lucky Motor sold around 2,500 units, as per the brokerage’s channel checks.