Cars set best monthly growth in this fiscal

December finally marked the best growth in retail sales of passenger vehicles (PV) as new launches, cheaper finance and pre-buying to escape the January price rise helped boost demand in Asia’s third biggest car market.

The segment also recorded the second-best monthly total this financial year. PVs comprise cars, SUVs and vans.

PV sales grew 24 per cent in December to 271,249 units as against 218,775 units recorded in the same month last year, as per data sourced from 86 per cent of the regional transport offices (RTOs), shared by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association, Fada, on Monday.

Wholesales dispatches to dealers by 14 PV manufacturers during December stood at 276,544 units, a growth of 18 per cent compared to the same month last year. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, or Siam, will issue sales later this week.

The inventory days for PVs currently ranges between 15-20 days while for two-wheelers it ranges between 30-35 days, according to Fada.

The two-wheeler segment scored better, posting the best monthly retail sales this year in December. A total of 1.42 million two-wheelers were sold last month, marking a growth of 12 per cent compared to 1.27 million units sold in the same month last year.

Commercial vehicle sales, however, slipped 13.52 per cent year-on-year to 51,454 units against 59,497 units. Similarly, three-wheeler sales fell 52.75 per cent to 27,715 units from 58,651 units a year ago.

Tractor sales, however, grew by 35.49 per cent to 69,105 units against 51,004 units za year ago.

Total sales across categories increased 11.01 per cent to 1.84 million.

However, supply-side issues in PVs continued for the second month, thus making waiting period as high as eight months in select vehicles.