KARACHI, Oct 29 (Focus Pakistan) - Indus Motor Company, Pakistan’s assembler of Toyota cars, sold a third more vehicles in the first quarter. On Wednesday, its management told analysts that full-year sales could still fall.
That contradiction sums up Pakistan’s car market today. Buyers have come back. Nobody yet knows the rules that will govern the next car they buy.
Indus Motor sold 13,380 cars between July and September, 34% more than in the same months a year earlier, executives told the corporate briefing. The fiscal year to June had already run hot, with sales of 45,035 units, up 33%. Buyers picked the Yaris over the Corolla roughly six to four. Higher up the range, Fortuner and Hilux sold in about equal numbers.
Profit kept pace. The company booked Rs25.5 billion after tax for FY26, 11% more than the year before, or Rs324.50 a share. First-quarter profit came to Rs7.4 billion, a 10% gain that works out to Rs93.95 a share.
The outlook executives gave was far more guarded.
A policy nobody can read yet
Management blamed the government’s new auto policy. The policy is still a draft and still waits for approval, and executives said the uncertainty has confused buyers enough to push FY27 sales lower.
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The company will not commit to new models until the government finalises the policy. Executives said Indus Motor will reshape its strategy afterwards, in keeping with Toyota’s philosophy. They also argued that the policy must rationalise tariffs if Pakistan wants a real local parts industry.
Executives still think demand for cars built in Pakistan will recover slowly through the rest of FY27. High oil prices could get in the way, they said, along with geopolitical uncertainty, rising interest rates and swings in the rupee.
The import shift
Figures presented at the briefing show how the market has changed. Used car imports fell 12% to 37,185 units in FY26, then collapsed 56% to 5,897 units in the first quarter.
New car imports, by contrast, surged. Completely built-up (CBU) imports grew 3.9 times to 8,671 units in FY26 and 2.8 times to 4,537 units in the latest quarter. Completely knocked-down (CKD) imports climbed 45% to 259,738 units for the year and 32% to 68,472 units in the quarter.
Management pointed to Chinese carmakers. Their scale and vertical integration, executives said, make shipping finished cars into Pakistan cheaper for them than building here. Indus Motor bets the opposite way. It gives local vendors enough volume to make domestic parts manufacturing pay.
Despite the quarter’s sharp drop, executives still raised alarm over used car imports. They warned that these imports hurt local assemblers, threaten factory jobs and scare investors away from parts manufacturing.
Two asks for Islamabad
The company made two direct requests. First, it wants the government to standardise duties and taxes across vehicle categories, so that similarly priced cars stop carrying very different tax bills.
Second, it wants car loans to open up. Indus Motor called for lifting the Rs3 million auto-financing cap, letting buyers borrow for more than three years and easing other restrictions. With interest rates already climbing, those limits keep many salaried buyers out of showrooms.
Indus Motor sold more cars this quarter than a year earlier. Its executives say they will not pick their next models until Islamabad signs off on the policy.
