Passenger sales decline 2.46% in August, car sales down 1%, commercial vehicles up 29.56%: SIAM data

New Delhi: Domestic passenger vehicle sales declined for the second month in succession with 2.46 percent drop in August due to high base effect and partial impact of floods in Kerala, automobile industry body SIAM said on Tuesday. According to data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales stood at to 2,87,186 units last month as against 2,94,416 units in August last year. Car sales declined 1.03 percent to 1,96,847 units last month as against 1,98,892 units in August last year. PV sales in July had declined by 2.71 percent to 2,90,960 units from 2,99,066 units in the same month previous year. Car sales had also declined marginally to 1,91,979 units in July compared to 1,92,845 in the year-ago month. “There is an impact of high base effect, as sales last year from July to September were high after GST implementation,” SIAM Director General Vishnu Mathur said here. Besides, there is also some impact of floods, specially in Kerala which is a big automotive market, he added. [caption id=“attachment_3997455” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Mathur, however, said the current high fuel prices had little impact on vehicle sales. “Fuel prices keep fluctuating and it doesn’t have an immediate impact on sales, although in the long term it can have some impact,” he said. During the month, market leader Maruti Suzuki India posted 3.55 percent decline in PV sales at 1,45,895 units. Rival Hyundai Motor India also saw 2.76 percent dip at 45,801 units. Tata Motors, however, posted 24.98 percent jump in its PV sales in August at 20,323 units. According to SIAM, motorcycle sales last month grew by 6.18 percent to 12,06,512 units as compared to 11,36,322 units in August 2017. Scooter sales were marginally down at 6,69,416 units as against 6,73,444 units in August last year. Total two-wheeler sales in August were higher by 2.91 percent to 19,46,811 units as against 18,91,685 units in the year-ago month. “Two-wheeler sales were partially affected by the restriction imposed in West Bengal on new purchases without driving licence,” Mathur said. In the motorcycle segment, market leader Hero MotoCorp posted 1.29 percent increase at 5,91,401 units in August. Rival Bajaj Auto saw its sales jump by 27.25 percent to 2,18,437 units. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) recorded 4.9 percent increase in its bike sales at 2,01,348 units last month. In the scooter segment, leader HMSI saw sales dip by 4.66 percent to 3,75,901 units. Chennai-based TVS Motor Co, however, posted 9.8 percent increase at 1,20,198 units. Hero MotoCorp’s scooter sales in August were at 71,639 units, down 7.73 percent. SIAM said sales of commercial vehicles jumped by 29.56 percent to 84,668 units in August as against 65,350 units in the year-ago month. “Considering how this segment has grown above expectations we are looking at having a re-look at our forecast for an upward revision,” SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen said. SIAM had earlier projected that the CV segment could grow around 10-12 percent this fiscal. However, in the April-August period, the segment has grown by 41.67 percent to 3,91,260 units as against 2,76,182 units in the year-ago period. The auto industry body said vehicle sales across categories in August registered a growth of 3.43 percent to 23,81,931 units from 23,02,902 units in the same month last year.