The automobile sales growth this year will be led by two and three-wheelers. While two-wheeler sales are expected to grow in double digits, the passenger vehicle (PV) sales are expected to grow by less than five per cent year-on-year (YoY), the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said here on Monday. According to the monthly data shared by the industry body, the PV wholesales (dispatches to dealers) in the domestic market witnessed a decline of 1.4 per cent YoY to 3,56,752 units in September compared with 3,61,717 units in September 2023.
On the other hand, two-wheelers sales grew by around 16 per cent YoY to 20,25,993 units during the month (17,49,794 units). Three-wheeler sales also grew by around seven per cent YoY to 79,683 units in September against 74,671 units in the corresponding month last year.
In the July-September quarter, PV sales declined by around two per cent YoY to 10,55,137 units compared to 10,74,395 units in the same period previous year.
“There will be growth and it will be led by two and three-wheelers. For two-wheelers, we hope that the double-digit growth is going to continue, and in three-wheelers, it should be high single-digit growth. As far as commercial vehicles are concerned, in the first half, we have seen three-four per cent decline so I think it would be just flat. In the PV segment, given that the first half has been flat, in the second half (H2) even if we do greater than five per cent growth, we would end up with sub five per cent growth in the segment,” Shailesh Chandra, President, SIAM, told reporters.
Heavy rainfall in key States and the ‘Shradh’ period in the month of September, impacted sales in some segments, he said.
“It was a slight surprise, especially the month of May and June, which did not play out as per our expectations. I would say April was still good...and then we saw moderation in May and June which affected us badly. Sales went up in September but were offset by the Shradh period,” Chandra explained.
Chandra noted that in the first 12 days of October, there has been a 25 per cent increase in retail sales, compared to the previous month, signalling a robust offtake in the festival period. Talking about the impact of high base effect, he added that the PV sales jumped from 2.6 million units in FY20 to 4.2 million units last fiscal.