Frequent fuel price hikes and rising auto loans, among other factors, continued to depress car sales in October, a festive month.
The biggest hit in the passenger vehicle segment was taken by passenger cars, which fell by 23.77 per cent to 1,38,521 units in October, 2011, compared with 1,81,704 units in the same month last year.
The drop in passenger car segment is the highest since December 2000, when the drop in sales was almost 40 per cent
Overall, passenger vehicles registered a decline of 20.25 per cent to 183,142 in October 2011, from 229,647 units in the year ago period, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
“The small car segment, which is the most price-sensitive, has taken the biggest hit. Surprisingly, even the luxury car segment was not spared. This is the first time that we are noticing an 11 per cent decline (in April-October) in the luxury segment. This could be due to the unavailability of the diesel variants,” said Mr Vishnu Mathur, SIAM Director-General.
Demand not met
“The sentiments are obviously down on the back of rate hikes and fuel price hikes. The industrial relations problem at Maruti Suzuki has not helped either.
“But, another factor fuelling this decline is the demand-supply mismatch on account of petrol-diesel price differentials. The industry is not able to fulfil the demand for diesel variants. So, on the one hand, you have long waiting period, while on the other, you have a -20 per cent growth,” Mr Mathur added.
COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
On the back of good freight rates and economic growth, commercial vehicle sales in October stood at 61,800, up 18.53 per cent, from 52,138 in the year ago period. Light commercial vehicle sales rose by 15.34 per cent during the month to 34,776 units from 30,151 units in October last. Sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles stood at 27,024 units compared with 21,987 units in the same month last year, a 22.91 per cent increase.
Two-wheelers
Two-wheeler sales grew by 2.01 per cent to 11,47,621 units last month from 11,25,052 units in October 2010, according to the data.
On the future outlook, Mr Mathur said, “November and December are anyway not good months for the industry. Another rate hike or fuel price hike will only add to the woes.”
Total sales of vehicles across categories registered a decline of 1.05 per cent to 1,441,594 units in October from 1,456,901 units in the same month last year.