BENGALURU: Car sales in the country rose 12.87 per cent in December as customers were induced into buying new vehicles through discounts by all manufacturers. According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the domestic car sales for December rose to 172,671 units compared with 152,986 units in December 2014.
Thus, sales had risen for the 14th month in succession, according to data released by SIAM. Meanwhile, the overall passenger vehicle sales during the month grew by 10.46 per cent to 230,960 units as against 209,086 units in the year-ago period.
With economy improving, sentiments have also improved. Also the reduction in interest rates also seems to have helped sales grow to some extent during the year.
“December is always a difficult month for us. But this time, I think the inducement from the car manufacturers in terms of discounts to a large extent has helped in sales growth during the month,” SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen was quoted as saying in a section of the media.
Meanwhile, Abdul Majeed -- Partner, PriceWaterhouse (also an expert on auto sector), said, "Looking at the different segments and sub-segments, vehicle sales growth trend continues in December 2015. The auto industry will close this year with a good growth in passenger cars, commercial vehicles as well as scooters."
He added: "However, passenger vehicles sales growth in January to March quarter will be lower than the demand generated during the festive season and also people will gradually shift from diesel vehicles to petrol vehicles because of a lot of uncertainties in diesel regulation and also diesel vehicles may cost more with increase tax burden in future."
Growth is generally fuelled by positive urban customer sentiments, gradual uptick in the economy and hope that the economy will do much better in the coming quarters, he said.