KARACHI: Bike-maker Atlas Honda posted record-high sales of 80,479 units in October, surpassing the August sales of 76,309 units.

Its production in October was also at the highest level (80,600 units), which broke the earlier record of 76,600 units produced in August. The company had achieved sales of 73,259 units in January followed by 73,078 units in April.

Two of its bike models – CD70cc and CG-125 – are still selling at premium prices as the company has so far been unable to meet growing demand. CD70cc is driving the company’s sales with the monthly demand of more than 50,000 units.

Honda’s total sales in July-Oct climbed 12.2 per cent to 290,485 units year-on-year.

Honda’s competitors, such as Suzuki and Yamaha, are struggling though. The introduction of a new 150cc model slightly improved the overall sales of Suzuki to 5,820 units in July-Oct from 5,634 units a year ago. Yamaha sales plunged 34.1pc to 4,158 units in July-Oct on an annual basis.

drop in Car sales: Local car sales fell 7pc to 55,859 units in July-Oct owing to lower sales of Suzuki Bolan whose delivery under the Punjab Taxi Scheme ended a few months back.

Bolan sales dropped 53pc to 6,124 units followed by a 4.2pc decline in the sales of Suzuki Mehran to 11,343 units.

A total of 16,609 units of Toyota Corolla were sold in July-Oct, down 9.8pc from last year while the combined sales of Honda Civic and City increased 37.2pc to 11,059 units during the period under review.

Suzuki Swift sales went up 6.5pc to 1,383 units while those of Suzuki Cultus went down 7.2pc to 4,510 units. A total of 4,831 units of Suzuki Wagon R were sold, up 88pc from a year ago.

Including light commercial vehicles (LCVs), vans and jeeps, total auto sales stood at 63,633 units in the first four months of 2016-17, down 15pc from a year ago.

Hashim Sohail of Topline Securities expects car sales to continue their upbeat trend in 2016-17 despite the conclusion of the Apna Rozgar Taxi Scheme.

He said locally manufactured annual car sales may clock up at 213,000 units, an increase of 13pc over the preceding year. He said the import quantity of used cars will stay around 55,000-60,000 units in the current fiscal year, which translates into a monthly average of 4,500-5,000 cars.

He said Pak Suzuki sold 34,174 units in July-Oct, showing a decline of 26pc year-on-year due to lower sales of Ravi and Bolan variants following the conclusion of the taxi scheme.

Sales remained buoyant, excluding taxi units, posting an increase of 17pc on a yearly basis. This was mainly fuelled by growth in the sales of Wagon R and Swift models.

Indus Motor’s overall sales volume declined 9pc in the period under review as the company sold 18,400 units. He said assembly lines suffered some operational difficulties, thus taking a toll on the overall sales volume during the period.

Sales of Corolla fell 20pc year-on-year to 3,954 units due to maintenance issues on production lines coupled with the enhanced competition following the introduction of a new Honda Civic model. Sales of Hilux decreased 91pc to 43 units due to the expected launch of new Hilux-Revo.

Sales of Honda Atlas rose mainly due to improved demand dynamics of the 10th Generation Civic because of its better reception among consumers, with the first locally manufactured turbocharged engine in the offering.

Sales of the tractor segment reported a 27pc increase to 11,646 units on an annual basis for the four-month period. For October alone, sales improved 93pc year-on-year to 4,642 units.

Tractor sales remained strong because of the reduced GST of 5pc and improved farm economics. Moreover, the rollout of a subsidy package for local farmers and a pickup in commodity prices are also expected to improve sales going forward.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2016