The Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) has recentlyrevealed its sales data for August, offering a glimmer of hope in agenerally challenging landscape. Both car and motorcycle sales increasedslightly compared to July.
However, the most striking observation from the data is that the combinedsales for July and August (2MFY24) mark the weakest start to a fiscal yearin the last five years. Surprisingly, the pandemic-affected months of Julyand August 2020 had higher sales than the past two months.
In specific figures, car sales for 2MFY24 hit a mere 12,035 units, thelowest in five years, in contrast to the 21,910 units sold during the sameperiod in 2MFY21. Similarly, motorcycle sales in 2MFY24 reached only158,925 units, also a five-year low, far below the 282,190 units sold in2MFY21. This suggests that consumers were more inclined to buy vehiclesduring the pandemic and lockdown periods than in the past two months.However, before exploring the reasons for this decline in demand, let’stake a closer look at the month-on-month (MoM) gains achieved by theindustry from July to August.
Regarding car sales, all car brands in Pakistan saw a boost in their saleson a month-to-month basis, except for Chery, which did not disclose itsdata to PAMA. Additionally, jeeps were included in the categorization ofcars, such as the Hyundai Tucson, Honda HR-V and BR-V, Toyota Fortuner, andToyota IMV (encompassing the Hilux and Revo)
. Suzuki had the most significant increase in MoM sales, with 3,848 unitssold 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.
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Notably, Hyundai sold more of its high-end cars than its more affordableones, with the Tucson and Sonata experiencing MoM sales increases while theElantra saw a decrease.
Despite inflation, Toyota’s Fortuner and IMV managed to increase their MoMsales, indicating resilience in the high-end car market.
