Amritsar, NFA Post: Total vehicle retail sales during the month of February declined 13.43% on-year, vehicle registration data released by industry body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations of India (FADA) showed.
Passenger vehicle sales, however, showed double-digit growth of 10.59% due to the low base of last year as India had started transitioning to BS-6 from BS-4 emission norms, FADA said in the release.
On an year-on-year basis, two-wheeler, three-wheeler and commercial vehicle registrations continued their fall by 16.08%, 49.65%, and 29.53%, respectively, the industry body said.
Tractors continued their positive momentum by growing 18.89%, the data showed.
Passenger vehicle waiting period continued to remain as high as 8 months as the scarcity of semiconductors continued to linger around, FADA said.
The industry has urged the government to intervene and solve the semiconductor issue which is hampering automobile manufacturing and sales, thus threatening post-pandemic economic recovery, FADA said.
Dealer inventory for passenger vehicles and two-wheelers remained in the range of 10-15 and 30-35 days, the data showed.
“2W (two-wheeler) continued to see sluggish demand as the new wave of Covid in certain states kept customers away. Enquiry levels also narrowed as many educational institutions were still reluctant to open. Fuel prices are at their historic high and have put a dampener in sentiments. This in-turn has pressed the brake on the sale of entry-level price-sensitive category,” FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said.
Overall consumer vehicle segment continues to falter as availability of finance, negligible sales of passenger buses due to closure of educational institutes and supply side constraints kept the registrations in deep red, he added.
Further, the fuel consumption which had almost recovered from the lows of the pandemic is once again witnessing headwinds due to historic price hikes. This will have a negative impact on two-wheelers and commercial vehicle sales, FADA said.
“LCV’s which saw good pent-up demand during last few months post unlocking has now started to fall flat. Tippers and HCV’s are in-turn showing initial signs of revival as Government’s infrastructure push has started creating its demand,” Gulati said.
