Declining trend in the growth of production and sale of locally assembled cars has been observed during the ten-month period from July to April of the current fiscal year, as the production and sales stood at 130,841 units and 131,962 units respectively.
According to figures released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), the production was up by 2.4 percent and sale by 5.4 percent, which means that the growth in car sales has been there but the rate has declined. Industry sales depicted negative growth at 2 percent primarily due to decline in motorcycles and relatively lower growth in car sales.
Overall, industry sales figures during July-April (2006-07) dropped by 5 percent, to 588,731 units, against 618,395 units of last year. The overall performance of listed cars and LCV manufacturers (PSMC, INDUS, HCAR, DFML) remained somewhat unattractive with overall growth during the ten months at 8 percent to 160,358 units.
Pak Suzuki managed to increase its sales by 25 percent to 96,584 units while Indus Motors sold 39,608 units, up by 20 percent. "If we encompass overall unit sales by the listed car assemblers then we come to the conclusion that Pak Suzuki leads with a market share of 60 percent, followed by Indus Motors at 25 percent, and the rest being shared by Honda Atlas Cars and Dewan Motors," said Hettish Karmani at Atlas Capital Markets.
Talking particularly about the car segment then once again Pak Suzuki enjoyed a handsome lead over others with a market chunk of 57 percent, followed by Indus Motors at 30 percent, the rest being taken over by other two listed assemblers, he added.
However, the analysis of individual performances of companies showed that PSMC and INDUS had performed well during the period while the overall lacklustre growth was due to dismal performance of HCAR and DFML. After incorporating the latest available sales figures, PSMC remained the market leader in the combined cars and LCV segment of the automobile industry.
The manufacturers of Toyota Corolla, Indus Motors, seated second in the race with 25 percent of the total market share. The auto industry is well poised towards growth and would be undergoing expansion in the coming years as outlined and scheduled under Auto Industry Development Program (AIDP). However, influx of imported vehicles continues to be a major threat to the industry.