Festive season turns out to be worst in a decade: FADA
NEW DELHI: Automobile retail sales in the country fell 18% year-on-year in the 42-day long festive period this year as semiconductor shortage impacted production across companies affecting their ability to supply adequate numbers to dealer partners, FADA said on Thursday.
During the period under review, barring three-wheeler and commercial vehicles, all other segments including passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and tractors were down as compared with the same period of last year.
As per data collated by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), total retail sales across segments stood at 20,90,893 units this festive period, down 18% from 25,56,335 units in 2020.Passenger vehicle registrations stood at 324,542 units, down 26% from 439,564 units in the festive period last year.Similarly, twowheeler sales declined by 18% at 15,79,642 units this year as against 19,38,066 units in 2020.
Tractor sales were down 23% at 56,841 units as compared with 73,925 units in the same period of last year.
Three-wheeler sales, however, increased 53% to 52,802 units as compared with 34,419 units last year. Similarly, commercial vehicle sales rose by 10% to 77,066 units as against 70,361 units in 2020. “We have witnessed the worst festive season in the last decade. Semiconductor shortage which was already a full blown crisis showed its true colours when in spite of an above healthy demand, we could not cater to customer’s need as SUV, compact-SUV and luxury categories witnessed huge shortage of vehicles,” FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said.
On the other hand, entrylevel cars saw subdued demand as customers in this category continued to conserve money to take care of healthcare needs and other expenses, he added.
“The two-wheeler category continues to face the brunt of low sales with the entry level category being the biggest spoilsport. The rural distress in retails coupled with frequent price hikes, triple digit fuel prices and customers conserving funds for healthcare emergencies kept the demand low,” Gulati said.
In fact, customer inquiries were also ultra-lean during the period under review, he noted.
In the CV space M&HCV segment is now in a recovery mode with infrastructure projects coming up in different states, Gulati said. Buses, however, continue to be in the slow lane as it is yet to see any revival in demand, he added. The threewheeler segment has started to witness normal demand with situation getting normal across various states, Gulati stated.
“It is noteworthy to mention that we are witnessing a tactical shift from ICE to electric,” he added.