The automobile market is currently facing a massive slowdown amid constantly rising car prices due to depreciating Rupee value against the Dollar as well as added taxes by the government. However compared to the other players in the business, Honda Atlas has been the one on receiving end of the stick.
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The company is observing non-production days since last 3 months with thousands of piled-up unsold inventories at its plant and dealerships. Furthermore it posted a 77% decline in profits for the quarter ended June 2019.
However if we look at the stats, compared to any other Honda model, the BR-V has suffered a massive decline in sales. Honda Atlas sold 8,684 BR-V units in FY2017-18 whereas it sold only 5,045 units in FY2018-19 which is 42% less than the figures from previous year. The average monthly sales of the BR-V in year 2018-19 was 420 units compared to average 723 units from previous year.
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The beginning of this fiscal year is even dreadful for the Honda BR-V. In the first quarter of FY2019-20, Honda managed to sell just 528 units of BR-V whereas the figure was 1,293 in the same period a year earlier, rendering a -60% reduction in sales.
Introduced in April 2017, Honda BR-V happens to be the only local assembled 7-seat MPV in our market, which did really well in initial years compared to other similar vehicles available including Suzuki APV, Toyota Avanza and FAW Sirius. However now the vehicle seems to be losing its plot and is suffering from a colossal decline in sales.
Earlier this month, Honda Atlas officially launched the BR-V facelift with a few improvements. However with that the company has pushed the prices of BR-V bu up to Rs 100,000. Honda Atlas indicated these as ‘introductory prices’ which suggests that the company will revise the prices again in near future.
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Honda BR-V facelift retails at PKR 28.99 lac for the manual, and PKR 32.49 lac for the top-spec CVT-S. When launched back in 2017, the BR-V was priced at PKR 22.29 lac for CVT and PKR 23.29 lac for the flagship S grade. A year later in April 2018, Honda Atlas introduced the 6-speed manual version with an introductory price tag of PKR 20.99 lac.
| Version | Price when introduced | Current Price |
| Manual | PKR 20.99 lac | PKR 28.99 lac |
| CVT-S | PKR 23.29 lac | PKR 32.49 lac |
Considering this, since its introduction the BR-V has witnessed a 38.1% increase in price for the manual and 39.5% increase in price for the CVT-S version.
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Whether the BR-V facelift with an increase in price will help Honda Atlas to revive the declining sales of the 7-seat MPV in Pakistan, we will have to wait to find out. Or perhaps the company will remain contended to sell limited number of units even if the BR-V sits at the bottom of the domestic sales chart.
A computer animation professional with over 23 years of industry experience having served in leading organizations, TV channels & production facilities in Pakistan. An avid car enthusiast and petrolhead with an affection to deliver quality content to help shape opinions. Formerly written for PakWheels as well as major publications including Dawn. Founder of CarSpiritPK.com
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