Honda Atlas, the smallest player among the Big Three is suffering through probably the toughest of times in Pakistan since its inception in the early 90s. Now according to the latest information by Auto Journal, there was no Civic assembled by the company in March 2023, and there were no sales either.
After the COVID-19 lockdowns three years ago, this is the first time the company has seen zero output and sales. The main cause of this is a lack of inventory at its disposal since Honda, like most other assemblers, is still largely dependent on imports and cannot sustain its supply chain due to import restrictions put in place by the government as the country continues to struggle with dwindling dollar reserves.
Honda Atlas was already observing non-production days in regular intervals since August 2022, kept its plant shut for the entire month of March starting from the 9th of that month, and announced to extend the NPD (non-production days) for another 15 days. The company is expected to resume operations on April 16th if it is able to arrange the CKDs and components needed to assemble the vehicles; else, another NPD schedule will likely be announced by the company.
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The horror period for the local auto sector continues as car sales compared to the previous year have plunged to a deplorable 73% already. According to a report published in Dawn, plants shut down by auto assemblers had resulted in the loss of 250,000-300,000 direct and indirect jobs in the auto vending industry.
Regarding Honda, the company saw 23,552 units of Civic & City (combined) during the first 8 months of the previous fiscal year but witnessed only 11,770 in the same period of the current fiscal year, rendering a 50% decline in sales. But since the company now presents combined data for HR-V and BR-V sales, it shows 2,807 units in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year (when HR-V wasn’t launched) versus 3,673 units in the current FY23 (including both BR-V & HR-V).
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The steeply declining auto sales trend is attributed to economic & political instability, plant closures, outrageously increasing car prices, expensive auto financing due to very high interest rates, and customers’ constantly shrinking purchasing power. Will the situation improve in the upcoming months, only time will tell.
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
