‘Passenger vehicle growth may top 6-8%’

"Utility vehicle (UV) sales are seeing very high growth," SIAM Secretary General Vishnu Mathur said.

KERALA_KOCHI_03_05_2013.( Unionbudget_2014,Automobile) Brand new cars lined up in a stock yard for sale in Kochi, Kerala on Friday.Its tough times for the Indian automobile industry, with the slowing economy and record fuel prices applying the brakes on the once-booming car market with sales falling first time in a decade. According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), passenger car sales fell almost 7 per cent in 2012-2013 to 18.95 lakh units compared to 20.31 lakh units in 2011-12, dampened also by weak buyer sentiment and high interest rates. Passenger car sales had last dropped in 2001-02. Commercial vehicle sales were down 2 per cent during the year at 7.93 lakh units compared to 8.09 lakh units in 2011-12. Sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles also dropped by 23 per cent to 2.68 lakh units during 2012-13 (3.49 lakh units).Photo:K_K_Mustafah.

Auto industry body SIAM expects growth of over 6-8 per cent in passenger vehicle sales in the current fiscal, driven by good monsoon and implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

SIAM had earlier revised downwards the growth forecast for the segment to 11 per cent in March and then to 6-8 per cent in April this year citing higher taxes and a ban on the sale of some diesel cars in Delhi as the main reasons.

No recalculation

“There is no recalculation but we are expecting it to be better than 6-8 per cent,” SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen said while releasing the automobile sales figures for June.

Sales of passenger vehicles, which include cars, utility vehicles and vans, grew for the 12th straight month in June to over 2.23 lakh units, up 2.68 per cent from year-ago period. For the first quarter of the current fiscal, passenger vehicles grew 6.66 per cent year-on-year.

The growth was mainly driven by utility vehicles, which saw a jump of 35.24 per cent in June, while growing 38 per cent in the April-June quarter. Car sales, on the other hand, declined over 5 per cent in June and 1.41 per cent in the quarter under review.

“Utility vehicle (UV) sales are seeing very high growth,” SIAM Secretary General Vishnu Mathur said.

The price difference between cars and UVs has also blurred with the emergence of the compact SUVs, which wasn't the case five to seven years back, he added. The more than 16 per cent fall in sales of Maruti Suzuki, may have contributed to the overall decline in car sales. A fire at its Subros factory caused production losses.