Slight uptick in passenger car sales reported during November 2022

• Increase was of 39% on month-on-month basis.
• Car sales decreased by 39% in first five months of FY23 
• Further improvement expected in coming months after increase in issuance of LCs.

KARACHI: Passenger cars saw a slight uptick in sales during November 2022 compared with the data of the same month of 2021, reported The News on Tuesday citing data from the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA).

In percentage terms, the increase was 39% on a month-on-month basis, with analysts foreseeing a further improvement in the coming months due to the improved availability of raw materials for the car manufacturers after an increase in the issuance of letters of credit.

However, apart from the Suzuki Alto, sales of all other variants of cars, trucks, buses, tractors, jeeps, pick-ups, and three-wheelers as well as two-wheelers saw a decline in November 2022 compared with November 2021.

On the other hand, car sales decreased by 39% in the first five months of FY23 to 55,144 units against 90,303 units sold in the same period last year.

The data released by PAMA, passenger car sales increased by 0.60% or 93 units to 15,444 units in November 22 compared with 15,351 units sold during the same month last year. November 2022 sales increased by 39% or 4,315 units compared with 11,129 units sold in October 2022.

During this period, sales of 1300cc and above cars were recorded at 5,831 units, down 28% compared with the same period last year, when 8,102 units were sold. In November 2022, 1000cc cars recorded sales of 1,854 units, (1,136 units of Suzuki Cultus and 718 units of Suzuki WagonR) against 3,641 units in the same month last year.

Below 1000cc vehicles recorded a sale of 7,759 units, higher by 115% or 4,150 units against 3,609 units last year. Suzuki’s new Alto saw remarkable sales of 7,255 units, up by 282% to last year’s sales of 2,420 units.

Meanwhile, buses and trucks witnessed a decrease to 342 units in November 22 from 532 units in November 2021. The sale of jeeps and pick-ups went down to 2,947 units from 3,363 units sold during the same period last year.

On the other hand, sales of tractors dropped to 1,240 units from 4,617 units during November last year. The sale of rickshaws and motorbikes decreased to 110,529 units in November 2022 against 166,731 units in the same period last year.

According to a report of Topline Securities, Pakistan’s overall car sales were around 20,000 units, up 35% month-on-month, primarily due to the availability of CKD parts which led to higher production in November 2022 as compared to October 2022.

Pak Suzuki reported an increase of 55% month-on-month to 12,400 units in November 2022 followed by Honda Car’s increase of 38% month-on-month to 1,973 units in November 2022.