The Diwali month has given some relief to automakers after the prolonged slowdown the industry has been through. Passenger Vehicles sales have gone up, though marginally (0.28 per cent), after 11 months at 285,027 units as compared to 284,223 units sold a year ago. The growth was largely driven by the Utility Vehicle (UV) segment which grew by 22.22 per cent at 100,725 units as compared to 82,413 units in the same month last year. In fact, popular SUVs like Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Hyundai Creta were under heavy discounts which have a fillip to the volumes. In the same month, sales of passenger cars went down by 6.34 per cent at 173,649 units as compared to 185,400 units a year ago while the Vans segment witnessed a slump of 35.08 per cent at 10,653 units as compared to 16,410 units a year ago.
Apart from the festive season boost, Rajan Wadhera, President- Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) mentioned that new launches, especially in the UV segment, have also helped revive sales along with other external factors like easing of loan interest and improved liquidity flow in the economy. However, the industry is still waiting for customer sentiments in rural areas to improve which could give a push to two-wheelers sales as well. Two-wheelers sales in October dropped by 14.43 per cent at 17,57,264 units as compared to 20,53,497 units in the same month last year.
In the April-October period this year, i.e. H1 of FY2020, the passenger vehicle segment recorded a de-growth of 20.22 per cent at 16,18,278 units as compared to 20,28,502 units in the same period a year ago. Two-wheelers sales in H1 FY2020 to a dip as well recording a decline of 15.92 per cent at 1,14,53,997 units as compared to 1,36,21,995 units in the same period last year.
