The Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) has recently revealed its sales data for August, offering a glimmer of hope in a generally challenging landscape. Both car and motorcycle sales increased slightly compared to July.
However, the most striking observation from the data is that the combined sales for July and August (2MFY24) mark the weakest start to a fiscal year in the last five years. Surprisingly, the pandemic-affected months of July and August 2020 had higher sales than the past two months.
In specific figures, car sales for 2MFY24 hit a mere 12,035 units, the lowest in five years, in contrast to the 21,910 units sold during the same period in 2MFY21. Similarly, motorcycle sales in 2MFY24 reached only 158,925 units, also a five-year low, far below the 282,190 units sold in 2MFY21. This suggests that consumers were more inclined to buy vehicles during the pandemic and lockdown periods than in the past two months. However, before exploring the reasons for this decline in demand, let's take a closer look at the month-on-month (MoM) gains achieved by the industry from July to August.
Regarding car sales, all car brands in Pakistan saw a boost in their sales on a month-to-month basis, except for Chery, which did not disclose its data to PAMA. Additionally, jeeps were included in the categorization of cars, such as the Hyundai Tucson, Honda HR-V and BR-V, Toyota Fortuner, and Toyota IMV (encompassing the Hilux and Revo)
. Suzuki had the most significant increase in MoM sales, with 3,848 units sold in August compared to 2,514 units in July. However, in relative terms, Sazgar outperformed the rest with an impressive 121% increase in MoM sales. The top-selling car was Suzuki's Alto, with 2,769 units sold. In contrast, Sazgar's BJ40L was the least popular, selling only 8 units in August.
Notably, Hyundai sold more of its high-end cars than its more affordable ones, with the Tucson and Sonata experiencing MoM sales increases while the Elantra saw a decrease.
Despite inflation, Toyota's Fortuner and IMV managed to increase their MoM sales, indicating resilience in the high-end car market.