New launches and fall in auto fuel prices triggered passenger cars and scooter sales in July.
During the month under view, the industry as a whole sold around 16.20 lakh vehicles against 15.98 lakh sales in the same month last year.
While the passenger car sales grew to 1.62 lakh year-on-year (YoY) last month from 1.38 lakh units, scooter sales grew to 4.32 lakh from 3.75 lakh units YoY, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Monday.
Most of the sales were led by mini segment such as Maruti Suzuki’s Alto and Wagon R and compact segment such as Brio, Amaze (Honda), i20 Elite, grand i10 (Hyundai), Swift and Celerio (Maruti).
Micro segment The micro (as per SIAM) segment with the only car – Tata Nano – in the segment also grew by good percentage during July with 2,120 units against 875 units in the corresponding month last year.
However, motorcycle sales continued to fall to 8.08 lakh units in July compared with 8.63 lakh units in July 2014, the latest SIAM monthly report said.
“The downfall in the motorcycle sales is due to bigger base on Y-o-Y sales. “In the second half of the year, we hope the demand picks up in rural sales, which would make a difference to overall sales also,” Vishnu Mathur, Director-General, SIAM, told reporters here.
However, he said that there is still hope for the industry to grow by five per cent this financial year and for passenger vehicles, the growth rate is expected to be between six and eight per cent for this fiscal.
The motorcycle sales are down YoY every month over the last nine months, except that it grew marginally in June’s sales.
Similarly, the light commercial vehicle’s (LCVs) sales continue to fall YoY every month since May 2013. As per the latest report, the total LCV sales fell to 28,734 units in July against 29,966 units in July last year.
Sales under pressure According to analysts, the industry would be still in pressure till sales in certain categories grow. “Light commercial vehicle, sports utility vehicle as well as two-wheeler sales will remain under pressure till we see full recovery, especially in the rural economy,” said Abdul Majeed, Partner (Auto expert) at Pricewaterhouse.
He added that with better than expected monsoon, inflation is expected to remain under control, and hopefully, there will be ease in monetary policy in six months.
“With the Government planning to kick start the investment cycle, all these factors should help the Indian economy to grow and this in turn will help the auto industry to grow. We are already seeing growth in urban economy which is reflected in auto sales,” he added.