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The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), which released sales data for the month on Tuesday, said any turnaround in the automobile market could only be possible after a new government was elected after the general elections next year.
Sugato Sen, deputy director general, said, “We are going through a challenging phase. We had anticipated that the sales will decline after a spurt in demand during the festive season. The high demand was unsustainable under the current economic conditions.
The current situation is unlikely to change till the time a new government comes. At this stage, this government cannot do anything spectacular to bring about a revival."
Factors like costlier fuel & finance and tighter lending norms hit demand during the month. Wholesale volumes for Maruti Suzuki dropped six per cent year-on-year to 85,510 vehicles in the domestic market. Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor India’s domestic volume fell 3.6 per cent year-on-year to 33,501 vehicles in the month.
Tapering demand for diesel-powered models took its toll on Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Tata Motors. While sales for Mumbai-based Tata Motors declined 45 per cent year-on-year to 14,637 vehicles in November, utility vehicle maker M&M registered a slump of 32 per cent, selling 18,694 passenger vehicles.
Total sales of commercial vehicles were down 29 per cent year-on-year to 43,730 units from to 61,403.
Sen said the opening of mining activities and infrastructure projects might offer some respite to commercial vehicle makers.
Bucking industry trend, two-wheeler sales grew 5.55 per cent to 1,240,732 vehicles in November.
Sales increased largely on the back of higher demand for scooters, up 25 per cent year-on-year to 305,586 vehicles during the month. Demand for motorcycles went up 1.4 per cent to 880,015 vehicles in the month.
Overall, sales of vehicles across categories registered a growth of 0.9 per cent to 1,526,438 units in November against 1,512,869 sold in the year-ago period.
