Car sales up 16pc in 8MFY12

Car sales in the country during 8MFY12 rose by 16 per cent to 111,898 units compared to 96,142 units in the same period last year.
The volumetric growth primarily stems from June to July deferred sales to avail the benefit of reduced tax structure announced in federal budget FY12 and yellow cab scheme announced by the Punjab Government, said a report issued by Topline Research.
The growth, it said, primarily resides in below 1000cc segment with 1000cc segment depicting a growth of 35 and 30 per cent in 800-1000cc segment. Sales in 1300cc and higher segments have remained muted, depicting a growth of 1 per cent in the period under-review.
In the month of February, car sales stood at 14,962 units up by 12 per cent as compared to 13,375 units in the same month last year, which are on the same levels as that of last month.
On company wise basis, PSMC, which is a major player in the lower cc segment, continued to depict strong growth of 35 per cent in 8MFY12 to 70,162 units, versus 52,067 units seen in the same period last year. Mehran and Bolan, prime beneficiaries of announced yellow cab scheme, are showing a robust sales growth of 47 per cent. Moreover, sales of comparatively new models of Swift have reached 4,500 units in 8MFY12, up 86 per cent as compared to 2,420 units sold in the same period last year. Overall, company’s market share has improved to 63 per cent in 8MFY12 as against 54 per cent in the same period last year.
Indus Motors sales growth remained subdued. Company was able to sale 34,366 units compared to 32,991 units in the same period last year, up by a mere 4 per cent. Company’s flag ship product, Corolla, depicted a growth of only 5 per cent. Though the company added new variants of Corolla in 1600cc segment and CNG vehicles (Eco), sales have been adversely affected by reduced farmer income this year on account of higher input cost (fertiliser and others) and reduced product prices, particularly cotton. Company’s market share declined by 4pps to 31 per cent in the period under review.