Yearly basis: Pakistan's passenger car sales accelerate in 2021

Pakistan auto sales continued to post strong growth in 2021 with sales in December alone clocking in at 24,462 units, an increase of 60% on a month-on-month basis. On a yearly basis, passenger car sales were up 118%.

As per data released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), total car sales of Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC), Indus Motor Company, Honda Atlas and Hyundai Nishat posted impressive growth in 2021.

“Car sales generally slow down in December as people wait for the start of the new year for the purchase of vehicles with new year registrations. (However) This time around, strong MoM sales increase was due to pre-buying on expectations of price increase by auto-assemblers,” said Umair Naseer, Associate Director Research at Topline Securities Ltd, in a note.

The following graph shows sales of the four companies in calendar year 2021.

Monthly figures

Meanwhile, figures show 4,405 units of Honda Civic and City were sold during December as compared to the sale of 1,529 units in the same period in 2020, an increase of 188% YoY.

PSMC witnessed highest ever monthly sales of 15,503 units during December, up 82% MoM and 104% YoY. During CY21, sales were up by 108% YoY to 122,799 units

Month-on-month: Pakistan's overall auto sales decline 11% in November

Meanwhile, Arif Habib Limited (AHL) said the massive growth despite shortage of semi-conductor chips, disruption in international supply chain and booking suspensions of various automobiles is mainly due to i) improved purchasing power, and ii) consumers interest in buying cars in anticipation of price hikes as cars are soon expected to be slapped with increased RDs and FEDs.

Auto financing has played a huge role in increasing car sales.

Sales of Toyota Corolla clocked in at 3,180 units in December, improving 77% YoY and 14% MoM. Sales of Toyota Yaris clocked in at 1,971 units, showing no change on a MoM basis but a 37% increase YoY.

The sales of Suzuki Cultus declined by 15% on monthly basis to 1,411 units in December as compared to 1,651 units sold in November.

Suzuki Alto was ahead of other variants, witnessing a massive increase in sales as it went from 2,954 units in December 2020 to 9,195 units in December 2021, an increase of 211% YoY.