Auto sales decline by 12.7% in October; marginal gain for PV segment: SIAM data

Despite the festive season uptick in sales, domestic vehicle sales across all categories have declined by 12.76 per cent in October to 21.76 lakh units compared to 24.94 lakh units in the year-ago period, according to the latest data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Monday.

The report said that passenger car sales slipped by 6.34 per cent to 1.73 lakh from 1.85 lakh in October last year. Van sales dropped by 35 per cent to 10,653 from 16,410 but utility vehicle sales gained by 22.22 per cent to 1 lakh from 82,413 in the same period.

The SIAM data noted the decline in total domestic passenger vehicle sales in October works out to be 0.28 per cent year-on-year, while total two-wheeler sales declined by 14.43 per cent to 17.57 lakh units compared to 20.53 lakh units in the year-ago month. 

Motorcycle sales were down by 15.88 per cent to 11.16 lakh units as against 13.27 lakh units a year earlier. A total of 66,985 three-wheelers were sold in October compared to 69,483 in the same month of last year, marking a decline of 3.6 per cent.

The commercial vehicle segment has also suffered a sales loss of 23.31 per cent with 66,773 units sold last month compared to 87,067 units in October last year. 

Noatbly, the automobile sector has been experiencing a slump with nearly all manufacturers reporting falling sales due to subdued consumer sentiment amid an economic slowdown.

SIAM President, Rajan Wadhera, told reporters that healthy PV retail sales have been reported and that the coming months of November-December are expected to be better than the corresponding period of last year.

He also cited the entry of new players and products in the utility vehicle segment as the core reason for the rise in sales.