NEW DELHI: Sales of passenger vehicles (PVs) in December ended quarter (Q3FY22) was lowest in 5 years, while for the two-wheelers it was lowest in 9 years, said auto industry body SIAM. According to data available, PV dispatches stood at 761,124 units during October-December of this fiscal as against 897,908 units during the same period last fiscal.
Two-wheeler sales, on the other hand, fell from 4,782,110 units in Q3FY21 to 3,598,299 units in Q3FY22. Similarly, commercial vehicle sales, barring 2020, were the lowest in the last five years and three-wheeler sales were the lowest in the last 13 years during the recently concluded quarter.
“The sales numbers in the October-December quarter were not as per expectations for most of the industry players. In fact, the festival season sales were very weak as compared to the past,” SIAM President Kenichi Ayukawa said on Friday. During the 2021 December quarter, vehicle sales across categories declined 22% on a year-on-year basis to 46,36,549 units. The same was at 59,46,283 units in the year-ago period While PV sales during the quarter were primarily impacted by global shortage of semiconductors that forced automakers to trim down their output, two-wheeler sales remained under pressure due to poor demand and rural distress.
Ayukawa, who heads India’s largest car company Maruti Suzuki, said that the chip shortage situation is gradually improving but is not expected to change dramatically in the short term. “If supply chain challenges and Covid remain under control, we can expect some growth in volumes in the coming months,” he stated.
According to industry experts, the fast spread of Covid cases in January is expected to cause a short term disruption. However, its impact on sales, especially of PVs, will be much lower than the previous two waves of infections. In Dec 2021, PV dispatches fell 13% to 219,421 units against 252,998 units in Dec 2020. Two-wheeler wholesales fell 11% to 10,06,062 units in Dec 2021.
