Car buyers in no rush ahead of sales tax hike

KARACHI: Consumers have not shown any enthusiasm to pre-book or lift vehicles on cash despite the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet’s decision to increase the sales tax to 25 per cent from 18pc. The caretaker government has yet not issued a statutory regulatory order (SRO) to enforce the hike in general sales tax on locally produced vehicles of 1,400cc and above carrying ex-factory price of Rs4 million or above. Authorised dealers, who asked not to be named, said one of the reasons for the lack of any panic buying was that consumers had already purchased vehicles in January as a result of a change of model year. The sales of cars, LCVs, jeeps and vans swelled by 81pc in January to 10,536 units from 5,816 in December 2023.