Subdued income levels, rising petrol prices and a slowing economy pushed domestic car sales down by 5.36 per cent to 1,57,536 units in September, compared with 1,66,464 units in the year-ago period.
However, utility vehicles sales spurted by 50.89 per cent, taking passenger vehicle segment growth up by 4.88 per cent in September (year-on-year).
“The new model launches in recent months at attractive price points will continue to support strong growth for the utility vehicle segment. We forecast a 50-52 per cent growth in this segment for the fiscal year 2013, against 29-31 per cent projected before,” said S. Sandiliya, President, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
SIAM has already approached the Government to extend the 2016 Auto Mission Plan’s tenure by another 10 years in the wake of slowing market.
In September, the maximum hit was taken by two-wheeler sales that declined by 12.92 per cent to 1,069,069 from 1,227,662 units in the year-ago period. This could largely be attributed to weak rural demand.
The commercial vehicle segment saw negligible growth of 0.04 per cent. A sharp de-growth was seen in the medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment of 14.8 per cent from 31,068 units sold in September last year to 26,471 last month. Light commercial vehicles saw robust growth of 11.67 per cent, largely driven by goods carriers.
Total automobile sales across categories registered a dip of 9.43 per cent to 14,18,134 units last month, against 15,65,757 units in September 2011. On the back of the global slowdown, automobile exports, too, declined by 7.91 per cent from 261,508 units to 240,820 units.