Passenger vehicle sales decline in July
NEWDELHI: Sustained penchant for sport-utility vehicles helped India’s passenger vehicle industry clock a modest year-on-year decline in sales in July, and offer early signs of revival in a market clobbered by the pandemic-induced turmoil and an economy that’s forecast to contract this fiscal year.
A total of 182,779 passenger vehicles were sold last month, down 3.9% from the year-earlier, showed data released on Tuesday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam). July sales performance, however, far surpassed the 105,617 passenger vehicles sold in June, when sales had plunged nearly 50% from the year-ago.
A good summer crop, adequate monsoon rains and comparatively fewer Covid-19 infections in rural India is helping a gradual recovery in the sale of small cars, sports-utility vehicles and twowheelers. The utility vehicle segment posted 14% y-o-y growth last month to 71,384 units, thanks to robust sales from Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Hyundai Motor India Ltd and Kia Motors India Ltd. In addition to the preference for the rugged SUVs in rural markets, SUV sales have also been rising in the cities due to the launch of several new models over the past few years.
Car sales, however, fell 12% y-o-y in July to 102,773 units. Automobile sales in India are counted as factory dispatches and not retail sales.
“After few consecutive months of decline in sales in a post-covid scenario, there are signs of greenshoots in passenger vehicles and two-wheelers, where the year-onyear de-growth is much lesser than the previous months. The sales numbers in the month of August would indicate, if this is a sustainable demand and not just a pent-up demand,” said Rajan Wadhera, president, Siam.