Honda Atlas Cars – the local associate of Honda Japan – has begun pre-booking orders for its latest Civic 2016 at a partial payment of Rs1 million from Monday, marking a huge step towards the launch of the next generation of Honda Civic model. The company has, however, not stated when the official launch would take place.
As anticipated, the announcement gave a boost to the company’s share price at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), which opened at its upper limit and stayed there till the close of the session. Its share price ended at Rs322.45, up 5% or Rs15.35.
The benchmark KSE-100 index also ended positive, up 129 points, in a post-budget rally in select sectors.
“The early launch of the Civic model will help the company recover the lost ground it ceded to Toyota Corolla Grande,” said Sherman Securities analyst Sadiq Samin.
He added that the current model generated lower sales revenue; however, there has been a lot of public interest in this upcoming model which may help the company reach expected sales volumes.
KASB Securities also commented that the pre-booking news counters an earlier news report of a possible delay in the launch of Civic in late 2016 or early 2017. “In comparison, we expect some near-term dip in sales for Corolla Altis including Grande (1,800cc segment cars), comprising not more than 20% of total Corolla sales (15% of total Toyota sales),” it said.
In financial year (Apr-Mar) 2016, Honda Atlas Cars posted a net profit of Rs3.6 billion, up 12% compared to Rs3.2 billion in the previous year. The growth in profit has, however, come mainly on the back of increased sales of Honda City.
Honda Atlas Cars is the smallest of the three players in Pakistan’s market compared to Pak Suzuki Motor, the market leader, and Indus Motor, the makers of Toyota Corolla.
These oligopolies are sucking our bloods by selling the cars at almost double price as compared to neighbor countries.
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