Domestic car sales slid 7% in FY13; first fall in a decade

10 Apr 2013 Evaluate

Registering fifth consecutive monthly decline, domestic passenger car sales declined 22.51% to 180,675 units in March compared with 233,151 units in the same month last year. With sluggish economic growth continuing to weigh on the demand in once booming sector, car sales dropped an annual 6.7% in the financial year that ended in March against the growth figure of 2.2% last year, marking their first fall in decade and thereby raising doubts on bullish growth expectations that fuelled billion-dollar bets from global manufacturers.

According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), motorcycle sales declined 8.31% to 779,878 units from 850,637 units. Total two-wheeler sales declined 6.96% to 1101,058 units (1183, 425 units), while total sales of commercial vehicles also slid by 6.04% to 84,956 units from 90,416 units. Meanwhile, total sales of vehicles across categories registered a fall of 7.76% to 14,86,522 units in March 2013 against 16,11,525 units in the same month of 2012.

However, the only bright spot has been a rise in demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Sales of off-road and crossover models registered over 50% over the past 12 months, providing incremental growth for some manufacturers. But, sales of SUVs and vans are not considered to be part of the passenger car figures released by SIAM. 

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