Vehicle sales up 14.48% on-year; PV sales increase 38.71% in Aug: FADA

Vehicle retail numbers for the month of August have brought mixed tidings for all the categories, data by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) show. Total vehicle sales for the month of August has increased 14.48 per cent over last year. While retails were still down by -14.75 per cent as compared to August 2019, the gradual pickup is akin to a sliver of hope.

All the categories were in the green, as per the FADA data. Two-wheeler sales were up 6.66 per cent, three-wheelers 79.70 per cent, passenger vehicles 38.71 per cent, tractors 5.50 per cent and commercial vehicles 97.94 per cent over the previous year.

Even as the numbers are encouraging, there’s another challenge awaiting the auto dealers. Unlike last year, when demand was dwindling, supply has become a challenge now due to shortage of semiconductors even when there’s a high demand for PVs, said FADA President Vinkesh Gulati. “Every dealer by now starts planning for a bigger offtake in anticipation of a bumper festive season but due to supply issues, inventory levels are at lowest levels during this financial year,” said Gulati.

When it comes to passenger vehicle sales, Maruti Suzuki led the pack with 1,08,944 units, followed by Hyundai with 43,988, Tata Motors with 25,577, Mahindra with 16,457 and Kia Motors with 13,900 units.

Two-wheeler sales were led by Hero Motocorp with sale of 3,13,074 units, followed by Honda Motorcycle and Scooter with 2,48,108, TVS with 1,48,739, Bajaj with 1,23,697, and Suzuki Motorcycle with 44,969 units.

Tata Motors led the commercial vehicle segment sales with 20,805 units, followed by Mahindra with 13,385, Ashok Leyland with 6,958, Maruti Suzuki with 3,721 and VE Commercial Vehicles with 3,151.

Bajaj Auto led the three-wheeler segment, while Mahindra and Mahindra, followed by Mahindra’s Swaraj Division were the top sellers of tractors.

Talking about the near-term outlook, the association considering the OEMs’ production cut due to unavailability of semi-conductors and ABS chips, shortage of containers and high metal prices, said, “FADA thus sees that the near term outlook will continue to remain a mixed bag with PVs witnessing demand-supply mis-match and 2W facing a demand crunch.”

Also read: Passenger vehicle sales soar 63% YoY in July: FADA