Pakistan July 2019: Suzuki Alto breaks 30 year-old pattern

Suzuki Mehran, Toyota Corolla dn Suzuki Alto market shares in Pakistan August 2009-July 2019

We recently wrote about the arrival of the new locally-produced Suzuki Alto in Pakistan, securing a 9.6% share for its first month of sales in the country in June and shooting up to an incredible 36.4% in July. This is a once in a generation event, and we’ll explain why thanks to exclusive Pakistani monthly sales data covering the past decade.

Since the launch of the Suzuki Mehran in Pakistan in 1988, only two nameplates have ever topped the monthly and annual local sales charts: the Suzuki Mehran itself from 1988 to 2008 and the Toyota Corolla since 2009. The arrival of the Suzuki Alto in market as replacement for the Mehran therefore breaks a 30 year-old pattern of Mehran-Corolla domination as only the third nameplate to top the Pakistani charts in the past three decades.

More striking for Suzuki is the fact that the Alto instantly broke the Mehran’s record share of the past decade at 36.4% vs. a highest of 32.1% for the Mehran in December 2012. Even more impressive is the fact that were the Alto to establish itself around the 35% share mark, it would be roughly 15% higher as what the Mehran has secured over the past decade on average: only twice more in 10 years did it break the 26% share mark (26.2% in September 2012 and 26.8% in November 2013).

In fact, the Alto has already secured the third highest monthly share in Pakistan in the past 10 years, only beaten by the Toyota Corolla twice at 40.2% in July 2010 and 37.8% in June 2011.  You can consult 25 years worth of Pakistani Historical Data here.