Car sales post double-digit growth in Dec

Decline in fuel price, lower excise duty, and improved economic conditions pushed up passenger car sales in December 2014 by 15 per cent to around 1.53 lakh units against about 1.32 lakh units a year ago.

The two-wheeler category, however, saw a mixed response. Motorcycles sales declined by 3.52 per cent, while the scooters market grew by 24 per cent year-on-year.

Car sales, which were down by around 2 per cent in October, grew by around 10 per cent in November (year-on-year) due to festival season offers and 15 per cent in December.

However, this may change considerably in January because of the rollback of the excise duty cuts that was available till December 31, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Friday.

“Vehicle prices were down for the last nine months in the previous calendar year due to excise duty reductions. It helped in creating a positive sentiment, thus helping growth in sales,” Sugato Sen, Deputy Director-General, SIAM, told reporters here.

The industry sold around 1.8 million cars in 2014, which is not a very significant growth over 2013, but still better than a drop in sales, he added.

According to Sen, the auto industry is expected to grow marginally in the current fiscal. “We expect sales improvement in March, which would significantly contribute to overall fiscal’s sales.”

Segment-wise, most categories had growth during the month, except few such as vans, goods carriers, light commercial vehicles and motorcycles. Despite good festival season and mixed monsoon season across India, motorcycle sales continued to decline in December for the third month in a row.

Sales of motorcycles declined during the month to around 7.80 lakh units compared with around 8.08 lakh units in December 2013. However, the scooters market grew to 3.74 lakh units last month against around 3.02 lakh units a year ago.

“While scooter sales were led mainly by urban buyers, motorcycle sales were down due to agricultural performance, which was down during the monsoon,” Sen added.