April vehicle sales up 3%, outlook for May brighter: FADA

FADA's outlook for May 2025 looks bright driven by farming sector, as the agriculture output is expected to be good this year

For the month of April 2025, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has reported a three percent rise in sale of retail vehicles, in comparison to the same month last year. As per the monthly vehicle retail sales data released by the association, this rise in year-on-year (YoY) sales was witnessed across all categories barring commercial vehicles.

FADA President CS Vigneshwar stated that rise in April sales could be due to the pause in tariff by US and pull back in market. He remarked, “With the tariff war paused, stock markets staged a sharp pullback–alleviating investor concerns–and customers thus leveraged Chaitra Navratri, Akshay Tritiya, Bengali New Year, Baisakhi and Vishu to complete purchases, helping April end on a positive note.”

He stated that all categories except commercial vehicles (CV) closed in the green, with two-wheeler (2W) sales up 2.25 percent, three-wheeler (3W) sales up 24.5 percent, passenger vehicle (PV) sales up 1.5 percent, and tractors sale up 7.5 percent. Only commercial vehicle numbers ended in the red, registering a decline of 1 percent in comparison to April 2024.

Notably, commercial vehicles saw 4 per cent month-on-month drop, weighed down by original equipment manufacturer (OEM) price hikes and flat freight demand.

FADA stated that in the CV segment “the bus segment exhibited resilience, underpinned by strong school-transport and staff-mobility demand.”

Referring to two-wheeler sales, Vigneshwar said, the 12 percent rise in two-wheeler segment was driven by strong rural demand. He added, “Dealers reported buoyant enquiry growth in rural areas post-Rabi harvest, driven by strong crop yields, healthy reservoir levels and a favourable monsoon outlook, while wedding-season tailwinds sustained rural offtake.”

Passenger vehicle sales witnessed strong SUV demand, but numbers were offset by sluggish sales in the entry-level segment — resulting in a meagre 1.6 percent increase across the segment.

All India Vehicle Retail Data for April 2025

Outlook for May 2025

FADA's outlook for May 2025 looks bright driven by farming sector, as the agriculture output is expected to be good this year. FADA said, “May’s agricultural cycle is concluding on a strong note, underpinned by healthy crop prices and robust mandi procurement.”

It added, “at the same time, Kantar’s Rural Barometer and GroupM data signal heightened consumer selectivity in rural India–household spending has outpaced income growth, and inflationary pressures are tempering discretionary purchases.”