Car sales increased 16 percent in eight months

Car sales in the country increased by 16 percent to 111,898 units in the first eight months of current fiscal year (FY12) as compared to 96,142 units in same period last year. The volumetric growth primarily stems from June to July deferred sales to avail the benefit of reduce tax structure announced in Federal Budget FY12 and yellow cab scheme announced by the Punjab Government, Nauman Khan, an analyst at Topline Securities said.
The growth primarily was in below 1000cc segment with 1000cc segment depicting a growth of 35 percent and 30 percent growth in 800-1000cc segment, he said adding that the sales in 1300cc and higher segment have remained muted, depicting a growth of one percent in the period under-review.
In the month of February 2012 car sales stood at 14,962 units up by 12 percent as compared to 13,375 units in the same month last year, while others are on the same levels as that of last month. On company wise, Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC), which is a major player in the lower cc segment, continued to depict strong growth of 35 percent in the eight months of FY12 to 70,162 units against 52,067 units seen in same period last year. Mehran and Bolan, prime beneficiary of announced yellow cab scheme, are showing a robust sales growth of 47 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
Moreover, sales of comparatively new comer Swift has reached 4,500 units in the eight months of MFY12, up 86 percent as compared to 2,420 units sold in the same period last year. Overall, company's market share has improved to 63 percent in this period as against 54 percent in the same period last year.
Indus Motors sales growth remained subdued. The company was able to sale 34,366 units compared to 32,991 units in same period last year, up by a mere four percent. The company's flag ship product, Corolla, depicted a growth of only five percent. Though the company added new variants of Corolla in 1600cc segment and CNG vehicles (Eco), sales have been adversely affected by reduced farmer income this year on account of higher input cost (fertiliser and others) and reduced product prices particularly cotton. The company's market share declined by four pps to 31 percent in the period under review.