PV sales in India at ten-year low

The latest data by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) states that the passenger vehicle wholesales in India slipped to a ten-year low in the April-December this fiscal. It added that the industry will have to work hard to regain better volumes and business health and that high levels of uncertainty remain in the industry due to COVID-19 situation and shortage of critical components like semiconductors.

The industry body stated that sales improvement in December and the third quarter did not convey the actual picture of the auto industry, which continues to face severe headwinds. This statement is based on the 13.59% rise in the domestic passenger vehicle (PV) wholesales to 2,52,998 units last month as compared to 2,22,728 in December 2019.

“If we look at absolute numbers from April-December 2020, some clear highlights emerge. We are at a seven-year low in the two-wheeler segment, ten-year low in the PV segment. Similarly, we are behind ten years in the commercial vehicle segment,” SIAM President Kenichi Ayukawa said. “The sales growth we saw during the third quarter of the current fiscal contains some of the pent up demand from the first quarter, so standalone sales performance of the third quarter may not be a true reflection of the industry’s overall sales,” he added that.