It takes more than LPG hikes to stop us from buying cars

Sales in the country’s auto industry posted a volumetric growth of 15 percent to climb to 128,576 units duirng 9MFY12 compared to 111,852 units of corresponding period last year.
According to PAMA data, the industry car auto sales, including car, LCV and pickup, improved by 15 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 128.6k units. The car sales soared by 15.3 percent to 112.7k units with the Pak Suzuki posting an enormous growth of 32 percent to 81.4k units.
Similarly, Indus Motor registered a growth of four percent to 68.9k units. However, Honda’s unit sale was down by 34 percentYoY to8.0k units during 9MFY12. “The volumetric growth primarily stems from June to July deferred sales on account of reduced tax structure announced in Federal Budget FY12, Yellow Cab scheme announced by the Punjab Government, 21 percent increase in worker remittances in 9MFY12 and monetization due to rising government fiscal deficit,” said Murad Hemani of Topline Research. In third quarter of FY12, Jan–March, the industry sales rose by seven percent from 43,753 units to 46,632 units in same period last year. This shows a significant increase of 22 percent compared to last quarter, Oct-Dec. In March 2012, car sales stood at 16,678 units up six percent as against 15,710 units sold in March FY11, marking 11 percent rise versus 14,962 units sold last month.
With respect to individual companies, the PSMC continued to depict strong growth of 32 percent in 9MFY12 to 81,360 units versus 61,693 units seen in same period last year as it stands out to be the prime beneficiary of announced Yellow Cab scheme. In 3QFY12, the company sales stood at 30,642 units from 3QFY11, up 31 percent and 26 percent from 3QFY11 and 2QFY12, respectively. In March, PSMC sales stood at 11,198 units, up 16 percent from same month last year and 12 percent from last month.
Indus Motors 9MFY12 sales growth remained subdued as the company could sell 38,858 units compared to 37,259 units in same period last year, registering a mere four percent growth. In 3QFY12 the company sold 14,792 units against 14,851 units in the same period last year, but depicted a significant jump of 26 percent as compared to last quarter.
“The recent recovery in sector’s volumetric sales along with the improved margin is expected to bode well for the sector’s profitability going forward,” said analyst Hemani.