During Mar’23, automobile sales in Pakistan depicted a decline of 66% YoY, while a jump of 61% MoM to 9.4K units. The monthly growth can be attributed to better volumetric sales of PSMC and INDU, which showed an increase of 475% MoM and 6% MoM, respectively. In addition, in the rising inflationary pressure, consumers switched towards affordable vehicles below 1000cc, which increased by 423%. The production also slightly recovered, increasing by 14% MoM to 7,137 units. Besides, the measure taken by SBP to curb imports are still intact; hence, auto assemblers need prior permission to import CKD units and raw materials resulting in production limitations.

1,300cc segment and above showed a meagre jump of 2% MoM. Given the Corolla and Yaris went up by 3% MoM.

On the other hand, 1,000cc segment sales witnessed a massive jump of 484% MoM, led by the upsurge in Swift, Cultus, and Wagon R, whose sales, on monthly basis, went up by 1209%, 560%, and 426%, respectively.

Sales in the below 1000cc segment went up by 423% MoM, with Alto being the major contributor with sales going up by 367%, recording 2,542 units.

INDU: Indus Motors showed improvement in volumetric sales, selling 1,912 units in March 2023, up by 6% MoM compared to the previous month. The sales of Fortuner and Hilux also jumped by 11% MoM to 793 units.

PSMC: PSMC, remained the major contributor to auto sales, showing a massive jump as its sales depicted a of 475% MoM increase, with the sale of 2,542 units of Alto in March 2023 against the sale of 544 units in February 2023, up by 367% MoM.

HCAR: HCAR sales were down by 49% MoM, with BRV/HRV sales recorded at 224 units.

Tractors: Tractor sales portrayed a meager dip of 10% MoM in March 2023, with Millat Tractors Limited (MTL) sales increasing by 3% MoM, while Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited (AGTL) sales went down by 57% MoM.

Courtesy – AHL Research