Over 60% of the cars purchased in 2018 were used, says Automobile Industry Survey 2018

PakWheels.com Automobile Industry Survey 2018 is out and as expected, it has some big revelations to make.

Amongst others, the survey reveals that in 2018, 64% of the cars purchased were used.

The most plausible explanation for this is the purchasing power of the local car buyer. if the local car buyers had a higher purchasing power, perhaps they would have preferred to buy new cars. PakWheels.com Automobile Industry Survey 2018 lends credence to this hypothesis.

As can be deduced from the above, 50% of the car owners spent anywhere from Rs.0.5 million to Rs.1.5 million when buying a car. Since there are not many new car options available in this range, except Suzuki, therefore they were compelled to buy a used car.

However, it would be wrong to assert that a lower purchasing power of the car buyers led 64% of them to buy a used car, instead of a new car. There is one more possibility – preference for an imported, used, Japanese car.

A wide variety of imported and used Japanese compact hatchbacks are available in Pakistan. They are usually of a 660cc engine displacement and provide top of the line features and specs for their price that locally manufactured cars do not. PakWheels.com Most Searched Cars of the Month segment lends credence to this hypothesis.

Every month, PakWheels.com publishes a research-based blog wherein readers are told which cars were most searched on PakWheels.com for the preceding month. For the past many months, 660cc cars have consecutively made into the most searched cars category.

Thus, it can be deduced that money alone is not the only determinative factor in the buyers’ choice of a particular car, it is also their preference for comfort and safety, which 660cc Japanese cars provide in abundance as compared to the locally manufactured cars.