Wholesale passenger car sales in the domestic market continued to fall, declining 8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in January to 1,64,793 units compared with 1,79,324 units in the corresponding month last year.

However, the utility vehicles segment maintained its momentum and reported a growth of more than 2 per cent to 84,929 units during the month against 82,803 units in January 2018.

According to the latest numbers put out by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the total passenger vehicles sales during January declined 6 per cent to 2,62,714 units compared with 2,80,091 units in the same month last year.

“Sales of vehicles continue to be stressed due to the rising cost of vehicle ownership and slower growth in GDP. We are hopeful that the recent announcements by the government on infrastructure and the rural economy would support the growth of vehicle sales going forward, especially in commercial vehicles and the two-wheeler segment,” said SIAM President Rajan Wadhera.

Prices up

Vehicle prices have gone up as manufacturers gear up to migrate to cleaner BS-VI fuels from April 1. Besides, many companies had increased prices in January citing rising input costs, SIAM said.

In the commercial vehicles category, sales declined 14 per cent to 75,289 units during the month compared with 87,591 units in January 2018.

Two-wheelers, too, hit

Total two-wheeler sales also declined by 16 per cent YoY to 13,41,005 units in January against 15,97,528 units in the corresponding month of last year. While the scooter sales declined by 16.21 per cent YoY to 4,16,594 units (4,97,169) during January, motorcycle sales declined 15.17 per cent to 8,71,886 units (10,27,766).

However, total three-wheeler sales grew around 13 per cent YoY during the month to 60,903 units against 54,043 units in January 2018.

 

 

 

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