KARACHI: Despite high car prices, Pakistan’s auto sector recorded growth of 98 percent to about 7,201 units (passenger cars) in March compared with 3,642 units sold in previous month, providing ray of hope in beleaguered auto sector that has picked up some pace after several months.

Car sales, including sales of non-PAMA (Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association), however, plunged 68 percent in March against 22,799 units in same month of previous year due to non-production days and decline in purchasing power. Monthly growth can be attributed to better volumetric sales of Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) and Indus Motors, which showed an increase of 475 percent month-on-month and 6 percent month-on-month, respectively.

In addition, Arif Habib Limited in its commentary stated that due to rising inflationary pressure, consumers switched towards affordable vehicles of below 1000cc, which went up by 423 percent.

Fears of slowdown in coming months still exist as measure taken by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to curb imports are still intact; hence, auto assemblers need prior permission to import completely knocked-down (CKD) units and raw materials resulting in production limitations.

Published in The Daily National Courier, April, 13 2023

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