Passenger vehicle makers report best sales in June

As per data available with industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) as many as 275,788 passenger vehicles were sold last month, which is an increase of 19% over 231,633 units sold in the corresponding period of the last financial year. The growth in the industry would have been higher at about 26% if we were to include the sales of

, which has stopped reporting data on a monthly basis to SIAM.

Tata Motors sold 45,197 passenger vehicles last month.

Automakers in India mostly report wholesale dispatches from factories to dealerships and not retail sales to customers.

Three-wheeler sales rose 184% to 26,701 units in June. Wholesale demand for two-wheelers too grew by 23% to 1,308,764 units. While sales of scooters went up by 70% to 421,362 units, those of motorcycles increased 9% to 849,928 units this June.

Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM said, “In Quarter-1 this year, sales in the passenger vehicle segment stood at ~ 9.1 lakh units, in two-wheeler segment ~ 37.25 lakh units, in three-wheeler segment ~ 76 thousand units and in commercial vehicle segment ~ 2.25 lakh units.”

For even as monthly sales grew on a low base, a closer look at the data shows compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in the first quarter for the last five years in the passenger vehicle segment has been a meagre 1%. Meanwhile, in the commercial vehicle, three-wheeler and two-wheeler segments CAGR has stood at (-)0.6%, (-)17.1% and (-)10%, respectively.

In the entry-level segment particularly, demand for small cars as well as two-wheelers have gone down substantially. While sales of mini cars last quarter fell 59% compared to Q1FY19, those of motorcycles (upto 110 cc) and scooters (upto 125 cc) declined by 42% and 36% in the period under consideration.

The automotive industry continues to remain under pressure due to high commodity costs, including those of precious metals.

“Recently the government has taken significant measures to ease the inflationary pressure and help the common man by reducing central excise duty on petrol & diesel and changing the duty structure to moderate prices of steel & plastic”, informed Menon, adding while industry stakeholders appreciate the measures it keenly looks forward to similar support on CNG prices which has seen exponential increase in the last 7 months.

“Support on CNG prices would help the common man, facilitate public transport and will enable a cleaner environment”, said he.