ISLAMABAD, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's auto sector sales posted a negative growth of 24 percent during April 2019 on a yearly comparison.
According to the official figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday, Pakistan's auto sales were recorded at 19,363 units in April 2019, 24 percent lower when compared with sales of 25,567 units recorded in April last year.
The major contributor to the massive decline was Honda Atlas Cars (HCAR), which recorded a 38 percent decline in its sales during the month.
During the first 10 months of the fiscal year of 2018-19, sales of Pak-Suzuki Motor Company dipped by 10 percent to 110,357 units, sales of Indus Motors improved by 5 percent to 55,303 units, whereas sales of Honda Atlas Cars decreased by 10 percent to 38,724 units.
According to the auto sector experts, the main reason behind the disappointing auto sales figures was the continuous price hike by all the automakers in the past few months, which has finally started to reflect in the sales numbers. Moreover, the economic slowdown in the South Asian country has also contributed to the despairing trends in auto sector sales.
During the first 10 months of the fiscal year of 2018-19, Pakistan's auto sales decreased by 4 percent to 162,692 units compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year.
The production of motorcycles and three-wheelers declined by 5 percent to 138,555 units in April 2019 compared with sales of 146,310 units recorded during April 2018.
During the 10 months of the fiscal year of 2018-19, Pakistan's production of motorbikes and three-wheelers surged by 29.18 percent to 1,619,634 units as against the sales of 1,253,765 units posted during the same period of the previous fiscal year.
During April this year, the sales of tractors in Pakistan contracted by 32 percent to 5,430 units when compared with the sales of 7,979 units reported in April last year.
The country's tractor sales shrank by 28 percent to 32,013 units during the 10 months of the fiscal year of 2018-19 when compared with the sales of 44,627 units registered during the same period of the last year.
As far as trucks and buses in Pakistan are concerned, the month of April 2019 saw the sales slumped by 28 percent to 563 units as against 779 units in the same month of the previous year. During the 10 months, the sales of trucks and buses were recorded at 4,936 units, which were 21 percent lower compared with sales of 6,279 units during the same period of the previous year.
