Even as car sales in the country rose marginally in February after four months of decline, industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), on Monday, said it remained cautious on the outlook for the industry.
The 1.4 per cent growth during the month is mainly attributed to the recent cuts in excise taxes on automobiles by the government.
While the car makers have seen increased footfalls, experts feel that the full impact of the move is yet to be seen. According to data released by the industry body, domestic car sales increased by 1.4 per cent to 1,60,718 units in February from 1,58,512 units in the year-ago month.
“It will take some more time to see if the negative trends have reversed. We are getting feedback from companies that footfalls have increased,” SIAM Director-General Vishnu Mathur told reporters here.
Excise duty cut and the Auto Expo have created a positive sentiment, but it was too early to say if all this would translate into sales. “Month after month, numbers are so volatile, there is so much fluctuation that there is no trend visible,” Mr. Mathur said.
For the first 11 months of this fiscal year (April-February), car sales declined by 4.6 per cent while the broader passenger vehicle segment witnessed a fall of 5.9 per cent. “The current fiscal is going to end on a negative for passenger and commercial vehicles. Even if sales are much better in March, it won’t be able to erase the effect of rest of the fiscal, which has been largely negative,” Mr. Mathur said.
Total two-wheeler sales during the month rose 9.69 per cent to 12,20,012 units. While scooter sales were up 28.19 per cent to 3,11,957 units, motorcycle sales climbed 5.39 per cent to 8,43,307 units.
Commercial vehicles
However, sales of commercial vehicles were down 29.84 per cent to 47,982 units in February, SIAM said.
Vehicle sales across categories registered an increase of 4.99 per cent to 15,23,693 units from 14,51,263 units in February 2013, it added.
