The automobile industry experienced some positive movement in June with sales of all vehicle categories showing growth against the corresponding month last year. Motorcycle sales, that were in the negative territory for the last many months, also showed a marginal growth in June.
However, sales of both passenger cars and motorcycles are still not satisfactory according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
“The low growth of passenger cars was due to annual maintenance closure of companies like Maruti Suzuki India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor around same time last month,” Vishnu Mathur, Director General, SIAM, told reporters here.
“The motorcycle segment is still facing pressure from slowdown in rural areas. Last month, however, the sales have grown marginally,” he added.
Number wise, passenger car sales grew more than one per cent year-on-year (YoY) during the month with around 1.63 lakh units against 1.60 lakh units in same month last year. Motorcycle sales grew marginally to around 8.78 lakh units in June compared with a little more than 8.77 lakh units in June 2014.
Scooter sales grew by more than 14 per cent to 3,70,710 units last month compared with 3,24,574 units in June 2014, SIAM’s latest report said.
Sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles also kept the growth momentum (21 per cent) with 22,184 units in June compared with 18,374 units in corresponding month last year.
Positive sales made the total two-wheelers segment grow by more than three per cent to 13,07,710 units during June as against 12,62,883 units in June last year.
However, sales of three-wheelers continue to fall month-on-month as well as YoY to 43,875 units (-7.40 per cent) in June this year compared with 47,383 units in June 2014.
According to analysts, the major challenge for automakers is subdued demand from the rural areas due to distress in the rural economy, mainly on account of sub optimal monsoon and this is especially impacting few segments like small cars, light commercial vehicles and motorcycles.
“The interest rates are still very high, liquidity remains a challenge and there is now growing concern on rising inflation. The only hope is on the new launches which will attract customers to showrooms during the festival season in the third quarter,” Abdul Majeed J Shaikh, Partner and Auto Expert at Price Waterhouse, said.