Passenger Vehicle Retail Sales Rise 4% in Nov Aided by Festive Demand: FADA

On Tuesday, the car dealers’ body FADA said retail sales of passenger vehicles (PV) in November saw a year-on-year rise of 4.17% to 2,91,001 units as the duration of Diwali-Dhanteras resulted in an increase in vehicle registrations.

In November 2019, PV sales stood at 2,79,365 units, according to the Federation of Car Dealers Associations (FADA), which collected vehicle registration data from 1,265 out of 1,472 regional transport offices (RTOs).

However, two-wheeler sales decreased 21.4% last month to 14,13,378 units, compared to 17,98,201 units in November 2019.

Sales of commercial vehicles also decreased 31.22% to 50,113 units compared to 72,863 units a year earlier.

Similarly, from 69,056 units in the year-ago era, three-wheeler sales dropped 64.98% to 24,185 units last month.

However, sales of tractors increased by 8.47% to 49,313 units last month compared with 45,462 units in the same month last year.

Total category-wide sales decreased by 19.29% to 18,27,990 units last month compared to 22,64,947 units in the previous year.

“While registrations during Navratri were stagnant, people came out in good numbers to purchase their dream vehicles during the Dhanteras Diwali period,” FADA President Mr. Vinkesh Gulati said.

In the PV market, new launches and especially compact SUVs have continued to show good demand, he added.

Due to good production coupled with Dhanteras-Diwali and the marriage season, the two-wheeler segment continued to see a change from 100cc to 125cc and above category, Mr. Gulati said.

Commenting on commercial vehicles for small goods, he said the segment continued to see strong demand with increased transport levels and last-mile connectivity needs.

The demand for buses remains closed as schools and colleges continue to remain closed.

Similarly, Mr. Gulati noted that the medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) segment continues to play massive part with excessive power, high BS-VI model prices, finance problems and high fuel prices.

“FADA once again proposes the government to increase infrastructure spending, including regular payments to vendors and introduce attractive incentive based scrappage policy to revive the M&HCV segment,” he added.

With the festive season ending, Mr. Gulati said on the sales outlook, demand recovery now depends solely on year-end schemes.

“If the supply chain challenges in the passenger vehicle segment are managed, we may see steady expansion in December,” he added.

The two-wheeler original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and dealers were also advised by Mr. Gulati to keep a check on the inventory of vehicles as post festivals, demand may remain subdued.

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Source: IBEF

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