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       KARACHI: Barring a drop in demand for tractors, sales of cars, pickups, vans and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) surged 61pc year-on-year and 73pc month-on-month to 17,010 units in January.

       With this addition, the sales in the above segment rose 55pc to 77,686 units in 7MFY25 from 49,989 units in the July-January FY24.

       Truck sales rose to 2,054 from 967 units in 7MFY24, while bus sales surged to 365 from 237 units in 7MFY24.

       Total two and three-wheelers sales increased to 835,616 units from 646,440 units in 7MFY24. Tractor sales shrank to 20,158 units from 27,431 in the above period.

       Myesha Sohail of Topline Securities said the month-on-month rise in auto sales was primarily due to the low base effect since volumes in December were typically low as buyers delayed purchases for new-year registrations.

       The sales data of Sazgar Engineering Ltd (SEWL), which was not released in December 2024, also led to an uptick in January numbers.

       She said that the YoY rise in overall car sales is driven by lowered interest rates, improved consumer confidence, and the introduction of newer variants and models, adding that all companies recorded both MoM and YoY sales rise.

       Auto sales boost may continue due to recovery in auto financing due to declining interest rates and the arrival of new variants in the market, she said.

       In the electric vehicle category, the sale of Dewan Honri-Ve continued to face a declining trend. Its sales were 73 units in November, which fell to 41 units in December and 15 units in January.

       Electric taxis

       Special Assistant to the Sindh Chief Minister for Investment and Public Private-Partnership Syed Qasim Naveed Qamar met Dewan Group of Industries chairman Dewan Muhammad Yousuf Farooqui on Monday.

       The Dewan Group head informed the special assistant that his company is working on introducing 500 electric taxis in Sindh for Rs2.5bn. Mr Qamar said that manufacturing electric vehicles/cars and taxis under Dewan Group will promote technology in the province and create new employment opportunities.

       CBUs arrival

       Karachi Port Trust (KPT) has successfully handled the imports of Completely Built-Up (CBU) BYD electric vehicles. The vehicles have arrived at KPT’s private terminal, Karachi International Container Terminal.

       According to a BYD press release,

       this marks the arrival of the first commercial shipment of BYD electric vehicles in Pakistan.

       Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2025