The festive season has brought back car customers, who pushed retail sales (sales from dealers to buyers) in the positive region for the first time this year.
Retail sales that remained in the negative for the passenger vehicle (PV) market for eight months (January to August) posted growth in September. Meanwhile, wholesale volumes during September continued with the trend of being in red recording a fall of 24 percent to 223,317 units.
As per data shared by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), retail sales of passenger vehicles grew by 8 percent during September to 253,012 units as compared to 234,304 units sold in the same month last year.
Each of the earlier months of the year posted a decline in retails sales for the PV segment. The data which is sourced from all the states did not have numbers from three states and two union territories - Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshwadeep.
"Despite the Shraad period in September, the growth in retails are encouraging. Navratra started from September 29 and from there demand has picked up. Not to mention discounts which peaked during the last week of September," said a senior executive of a Delhi-based carmaker.
New launches such as Hyundai Venue, Renault Triber and Hyundai Grand i10 Nios helped improve the overall sentiments in the market. Maruti Suzuki launched the S-Presso towards the start of this month.
The positive sentiment, however, is not restricted to the PV segment alone. The two-wheeler segment reported growth during September after being in the red since January.
As per SIAM data, two-wheelers reported a growth of 6.5 percent in September to 1.33 million units as against 1.28 million units. Though there were no big launches during the reporting month, price cuts and discount offers spruced demand.
Bajaj and its dealers, for instance, doled out consumer benefit schemes to the tune of Rs 7,200 including a maximum discount of Rs 6,000. TVS Motor Company offered lower down payment and reduced insurance pay in addition to the discount on its range of two-wheelers.
The most troubled segment, which is the commercial vehicle (CV) segment, remained in the red yet again. During September, retail sales of CVs fell by 9 percent to 72,693 units as compared to 80,017 units sold in the same month last year. The CV segment is yet to record a growth in any month this year.
Vinod Aggarwal, MD and CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles said, "Positivity is returning slowly to the market. The announcement of a cut in corporate tax has given the market something to cheer about."
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