Auto sales drop 73pc.

KARACHI -- Dark clouds continued to hover over the auto sector as overall sales of cars, vans, pickups and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) posted a 73 per cent year-on-year drop in February to 5,762 units which is the lowest monthly sales number after 4,500 units in May 2020.

During the first eight months of the fiscal year, overall sales shrank by 44pc to 100,057 units from 178,250 in the same period of FY22.

In this bleak auto sales picture, Hyundai Nishat's Tucson performed exceptionally better as it sold 708 units in February as compared to 620 units the previous month. Tucson sales swelled by 60pc to 3,558 units in 8MFY23 from 2,230 units in 8MFY22.

Elantra and Sonata sales surged to 243 and 197 units in February from 173 and 191 units in January. However, their demand plunged by 12pc and 43pc in 8MFY23 to 1,695 and 939 units as compared to 1,929 and 1,638 units in 8MFY22. Hyundai Porter sales stood at 123 units in February, down by 21pc from January while sales fell by 27pc to 846 units 8MFY23.

The performance of Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (PSMCL) was worse than its peers with sales of 978 units in February versus 2,945 units in January, down by 67pc. Its February sales were 92pc lower than 12,668 units in February 2022. With a 45pc fall, total Suzuki vehicle sales in 8MFY23 stood at 52,294 units.

Barring Suzuki Swift, whose sales stood at 7,707 units in 8MFY23 with 497 units in 8MFY22, the sales of Cultus, WagonR, Alto, Bolan and Ravi clocked into 5,758, 4,533, 28,202, 3,083 and 3,011 units in July-Feb FY23 from 17,380, 14,812, 43,427, 8,267 and 10,025 in 8MFY22, depicting a fall of 67pc, 69pc, 35pc, 63pc and 70pc.

As per Arif Habib Limited (AHL), sales of Indus Motor Company (IMC) came down by 49pc to 1,803 units in February from 3,570 in January, while...