PV sales show recovery in July on monthly basis but drops 3.8% YoY: SIAM

While vehicles production numbers struggled to make a recovery in July, improved sales in the month seems to have brought cheers to the badly-hit auto industry, the latest Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data suggests. The total production of passenger vehicles, three-wheelers, two-wheelers and quadri-cycle fell 29.36 per cent year-on-year to 1,715,514 in July against 2,428,518 units in July 2019. In terms of domestic sales, PV sales stood at 182,779 units in July 2020 compared to 190,115 units during the same month last year, marking a drop of 3.86 per cent. The PV sales stood at 105,617 units in June.

"The month of July was significantly better than the preceding months and it instilled some confidence into the industry. Many OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have registered improved sales vis-a-vis the past few months, and this brings back a sentiment of resolve to the sector," Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM, said.

Sale of automobiles in India had crashed by over 40 per cent in June as a broken supply chain impaired the ability of companies to manufacture cars and two wheelers. The sales have crashed by a steeper 75.5 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal, the worst performance for a three-month period, as no business could be conducted for the full month of April and for almost half of May.

While three-wheeler sales declined 77.16 per cent to 12,728 units YoY in July, two-wheeler sales stood at 1,281,354 units, recording a 15.24 per cent fall in sales.

In terms of Q1 production, total 3,173,169 units were manufactured in the April-July quarter against 9,408,000 units during the same period last year. This is around 66.27 per cent decline in sales.

Domestic PV sales declined 62.73 per cent in Q1 to 336,513 units versus 902,799 units in Q1 of FY19, while three-wheeler sales recorded a sharp 87.60 per cent drop at 25,488 units yoy in the quarter. The two-wheeler sales in Q1 stood at 2,574,467 units, a 60.54 per cent fall as compared to the same period last year.

Rajan Wadhera, SIAM President, said after few consecutive of months of plummeted sales in a post-Covid scenario, there are signs of green-shoots in PVs and two-wheelers category. These two segments posted much lesser YoY de-growth compared to the previous months. "The sales numbers in the month of August would indicate, if this is a sustainable demand and not just a pent-up demand," said Wadhera.

Also read: Auto sales crash over 40% in June, normalcy to return only by 2023-24, says SIAM