By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan’s car sales rose 52% in the first 10 months of the fiscal year, reaching 127,042 units compared with 83,401 units a year earlier, according to data released by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association.
The increase underscores a broader recovery in vehicle demand across several categories. Sales of jeeps and pickups climbed 39% to 39,002 units. Truck sales jumped 81% to 5,890 units, while bus sales advanced 28% to 797 units. Sales of motorcycles and rickshaws gained 32% to 1,619,841 units.
The monthly figures showed even stronger momentum. In April 2025, car sales more than doubled, rising 117% to 17,387 units from 8,004 units in the same month a year earlier.
Muhammad Sabir Shaikh, an auto-sector analyst, said higher inflation and petrol-price increases had not deterred car buyers. “Generally, car users call for changing their vehicles after three to four years as their vehicles start acting up and maintenance of vehicles are way more costly than fuel costs,” he said. Shaikh attributed the sharp rise in motorcycle sales to the absence of affordable public transport. Middle-class families, he said, are turning increasingly to motorcycles as a cheaper and more reliable way to commute and keep daily transportation expenses in check.
Farm-tractor sales told a different story. They fell 7% to 23,116 units as both small growers and larger commercial farmers struggled with lower crop yields. The decline stems from the combined effects of climate change, persistent water shortages and the conversion of prime agricultural land into housing developments, which have reduced overall output.
Shaikh said farmers have been under pressure for five to six years, unable to secure adequate prices for their crops. “Therefore, they are not able to buy new tractors after cultivating crops as they did practice in the past,” he said. The data highlight a two-speed recovery in Pakistan’s vehicle market: strong urban and middle-class demand for passenger cars and two-wheelers, even as the rural agricultural sector remains constrained by structural challenges.
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