Car sales plunge by 38% in December, as auto sector continues to suffer

Passenger car sales witnessed another bad month as the sales decreased by 38 per cent in December for a 9th consecutive month with no sign of an immediate recovery as rising prices and high cost of auto loans pinch buyers, industry data showed on Monday.

Data released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) for the first half of Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, revealed that sales dropped to 9,987 units in the last month of the previous year. The data reported by The News also showed that the sales in December 2018 stood at 16,141 units.

A year-by-year comparison showed that in 2018 the sales stood at 104,038 units, while this year the sales in the first half sank by 43 per cent to 59,097 units.

Apart from Suzuki’s new Alto, almost all four-wheelers and above vehicles recorded a decline in sales. Analysts blamed high prices for a lack of interest by buyers, and added that the purchasing power of the consumers has also decreased.

Also read: Car sales plunge 36pc in September in sixth straight month of decline

In December, sales of 1,300 CC and above category cars sank by 50 per cent to 3,246 units as compared to 6,523 units sold during the same month in the previous year. While, sales of Toyota Corolla decreased by 50 per cent to 2,085 units against 4,179 units sold during December 2018, meanwhile, Honda Civic and City slumped by 55 per cent to 884 from 2018’s 1,989.

Suzuki Swift also saw a decline by 28 per cent as it could only manage sales of 277 cars. During this period, sales of 1,000 CC cars such as Suzuki Cultus and Suzuki WagonR, plunged by 55 per cent to 2,125 units. Manufacturers Pak Suzuki Motors cut production of both the cars by 70 per cent during the month to 1,191 cars against 3,947 units.

Although in the 800 CC category, Suzuki Alto registered strong sales, but the model type still saw a sales decrease by 5 per cent to 4,616 units in December against 4,896 units sold in the corresponding period last year. However, six-month sales increased 12 percent to 28,145 cars as compared to 24,957 units sold during the same period last year.

An analyst said the discontinuation of Suzuki’s popular Mehran not only impacted sales of cars under the 800CC category, but also local auto-parts’ vendors.

Also read: Car sales rise 24 percent to 70,040 units in four months

Sale of buses and trucks in December 2019 came down to 312 units from 470 units sold in 2018.

Sales of jeeps reduced by 197 units from 531 units during the corresponding period last year. Toyota Fortuner sales fell by 50 per cent to only 76 units compared to the 153 units it had sold in December 2018.

Moreover, even tractor sales decreased to 15,219 units in the first half of FY20 from 24,483 units during the corresponding period last year.

Sales of three wheelers (rickshaws) and motor bikes slightly dropped to 128,866 units in December 2019 from 128,959 units last year.

Originally published in The News