Automobile retail sales soar to record high in November : FADA

Automobile retail sales in India clocked best-ever performance last month aided by robust registrations across segments including passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles, automobile dealers' body FADA said on Friday.

The overall automobile retail sales rose by 26% to 23,80,465 units last month, as compared with 18,93,647 units in November 2021.

“November 2022 has clocked highest retails in the history of Indian automobile Industry with March ‘20 as an exception when retails were higher due to BS IV to BS VI transition,” Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) President Manish Raj Singhania said in a statement.

The sales momentum continued even after the end of the festive period with the start of the wedding season, he added.

Passenger vehicle retail sales rose by 21% year-on-year last month to cross three lakh unit mark in November aided by better availability of models, new launches and increase in demand in rural areas.

The overall passenger vehicle retail sales last month rose to 3,00,922 units, as compared with 2,48,052 units in November 2021.

“Better availability of model mixes from past months, new launches and increase in rural demand continues to keep the segment in healthy condition. Compact SUV and SUV category coupled with higher variant models continues to rule to roost,” Mr. Singhania stated.

Aided by brisk offtake, two-wheeler retails rose to 18,47,708 units last month, up 24%, as against 14,94,797 units in November 2021.

The commercial vehicle sales rose by 33% to 79,369 units last month, as compared with 59,765 units in last November.

Government’s continued focus in the infrastructure space and new mining projects, replacement demand continued to push the segment, Mr. Singhania said.

Three-wheeler and tractor retails grew by 81% and 57% respectively last month as compared with year-ago period.

On business outlook, FADA stated: “Most of the OEMs are announcing price hikes going forward. To counter this and for the lower end of the pyramid, OEMs have started announcing discounts for slow moving products, lower variants and to clear their year-end stocks. This may help year-end sales to remain healthy.” The industry body, which represents over 15,000 automobile dealers across the country, noted that the increase in repo-rate will further lead to a higher cost of borrowing and may impact the sales in the two wheeler and entry level passenger vehicle segment.

“Along with this, the China lockdown may play its part in slowing the supply of semiconductors. If this happens, it may act as a speed-breaker and add to supply-demand mis-match which has been improving since the last few months. Due to the above reasons, FADA remains cautiously optimistic in the near-term,” it added.