The slowdown in the economy and the transition from BS-IV to BS-VI have weighed in on the domestic sales of vehicles, which saw deep decline across categories, in February.
The sales of passenger cars in the domestic market declined by around 9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 1,56,285 units in February, as compared with 1,71,307 units in the same month last year.
The sales of total passenger vehicles (PVs) also declined by around 8 per cent YoY during the month to 2,51,516 units, as compared with 2,72,243 units in corresponding month last year.
Utility vehicles (UVs), which were doing good all these months, have also reported flat numbers YoY at 83,351 units last month, as against 83,269 units in February 2019, the latest report by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Friday.
“The decline in wholesale dispatches is primarily due to economic slowdown and lower production of BS-IV vehicles. Some upside on the registration numbers of VAHAN can be attributed to last-minute purchase by customers trying to advance purchase of BS-IV vehicles,” Rajan Wadhera, President, SIAM said.
He also said the supply chain disruptions from China are also a concern, which may impact the production plans for companies going forward.
During the month, the total commercial vehicles recorded a fall of 33 per cent, the most among the various segments, to 58,670 units as compared with 87,436 units in February last year.
In the two-wheeler segment, while the scooters sales declined by 14 per cent YoY to 4,22,310 units (against 4,92,584), the motorcycles fell by 22 per cent YoY to 8,16,679 units (versus 10,47,356 units).
The contraction in each category has led to the overall decline of 19 per cent across all categories to 16,46,332 units during February as against 20,34,597 units in February 2019.