The production of cars and jeeps increased by 22.12 percent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (2017-18) compared to the corresponding period of last year.

As many as 176,007 cars and jeeps were manufactured during July-March (2017-18) against the production of 144,129 units during July-March (2016-17), according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The production of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) also increased by 21.29 percent by going up from output of 18,637 units last year to 22,605 units during the ongoing year while the production of motorcycles surged by 14.26 percent as its manufacturing increased from 1,847,903 units last year to 2,111,488 units during the current fiscal year. According to the data, the production of trucks also increased from 5,489 units last year to 6,907 units during the current year, showing growth of 25.83 percent while the production of tractors surged by 38.52 percent by expanding from output of 37,938 units to 52,551 units.

However, the production of buses witnessed decreased of 37.85 percent by falling from output of 893 units to 555 units, the data revealed.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the production of jeeps and cars increased by 14.22 percent as their output went up from 18,626 units during March 2017 to 21,275 units in March 2018.

Likewise, the production of LCVs increased by 34.23 percent, from 2,010 units to 2,698 units while the production of motorcycles went up by 17.81 percent, from 213,693 units to 251,749 units.

The production of tractors also witnessed increase of 8.37 percent by going up from 6,436 units to 6,975 units while the production of trucks increased by 37.44 percent, from 601 units to 826 units.

However, the production buses witnessed decrease of 24.44 percent as their production decreased from 90 units to 68 units.

It is pertinent to mention here that over all Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) growth witnessed an impressive growth of 5.89 percent during July-March 2017-18 against the same period of last year.

The country’s LSMI Quantum Index Numbers (QIM) was recorded at 149.26 points during July-March (2017-18) against 140.97 points during July-March (2016-17).

The highest growth of 3.33 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by Ministry of Industries, followed by 1.84 percent growth in the products monitored by Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBOS) and 0.72growth in the indices of Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) `