India’s automobile retail sales grew 11 per cent in September, led by a recovery in demand for two-wheelers and aided by overall improvement in supplies from automakers.
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Vehicle registrations for the reporting month rose to 1.46 million compared to 1.31 million clocked during the same month last year. This data, which is sourced from regional transport offices (RTOs) of all states and union territories barring Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Lakshadweep, reflects the actual purchases made by customers.
Manish Raj Singhania, president of Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (Fada) said, “The full potential for September was not realised as the inauspicious period of shradh and the auspicious period of Navratri both occurred in the same month.”
He further said the industry is looking forward to a record performance in the festive season which culminates with Diwali later in the month.
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Two-wheelers, which made up 70 per cent of the volumes during the reporting month, saw a rise of 9 per cent in sales, which is the highest since June this year. The segment clocked 1.05 million units in sales in September, according to Fada data.
“Two-wheeler demand is rising and that is a very encouraging sign. There have been series of offers for the consumers and that seems to be working,” Singhania added.
Passenger vehicles (PV), comprising cars, sports utility vehicles and vans, grew nearly 10 per cent in sales to 2,60,000 during September. Several companies were able to fast track deliveries to customers during the month because of improved supplies of semiconductors.
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The industry’s retail numbers have been significantly less than wholesale numbers shared by the companies a few days ago. While two-wheeler wholesales (company to dealers) have been almost double compared to retail, PV wholesale was 37 per cent better than retail for the same month. Companies have pushed for higher wholesales during September to meet the additional demand arising from the festive days.
Commercial vehicles clocked a growth of nearly 19 per cent to 71,233 units during September as compared to the same month last year, led by a nearly 40 per cent growth in registrations of heavy vehicles. FE
