Domestic Passenger Vehicle Sales Down 51% In March: Industry Body SIAM

Domestic passenger vehicle sales dropped 51 per cent last month, data from industry body SIAM or Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed on Monday. In its monthly report, SIAM said passenger vehicle sales stood at 1,43,014 units last month, as against 2,91,861 units in the corresponding period a year ago. The sales data comes as an already-battered auto sector struggles against weak demand due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Domestic passenger vehicle sales had fallen 7.61 cent in February, according to SIAM data released last month.

SIAM had said last month that vehicle production across all categories is likely to be critically hampered due to the coronavirus outbreak in China considering many automakers in India import about 10 per cent of their raw materials from the neighbouring nation.

"Automobile industry witnessed one of its sharpest decline in domestic sales in March 2020 due to subdued demand and consumer sentiments which was further aggravated by the COVID-19 outbreak in the country," said Rajesh Menon, director general, SIAM.

Sales of commercial vehicles - light, medium and heavy carriers of passengers and goods - declined by 88.05 per cent to 13,027 units in March 2020 compared to 109,022 units in March 2019.

Three-wheeler sales decreased by 58.34 per cent to 27,608 units in March 2020 compared to 66,274 units in March 2019.

Two-wheeler sales fell 39.83 per cent to 866,849 units in March 2020 compared to 1,440,593 units in March 2019.

Total production of vehicles, including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycles declined by 33.61 per cent to 1,447,345 in March 2020, as against 2,180,203 in March 2019

On a year-on-year basis, the passenger vehicles sales fell by 17.82 per cent to 2,775,679 units in April 2019-March 2020, compared to 3,377,389 units in April-March 2019. And the sales of commercial vehicles stood at 717,688 units in April-March 2020 compared to 1,007,311 units in April- March 2019, which marked a decline of 28.75 per cent.