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Demand for passenger vehicles declined by over 10% to 201,520 units in November as customers continued to defer purchases amid weak macroeconomic cues in the domestic market.
Industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), which released sales data for the month today, said that any turnaround in the automotive market can only be possible after a new government is elected post the general elections scheduled next year.
Sugato Sen, deputy director general, SIAM 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," added Sen.
Factors like high fuel prices, expensive finance costs, tighter lending norms, among other reasons impacted demand during the month. Wholesale volumes for Maruti Suzuki dropped by around six% to 85,510 units in the domestic market. Korean auto major Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL)too faced the onslaught of somber consumer sentiments with domestic volumes falling by 3.6% to 33,501 units in November.
| Sales November 2012 | Sales November 2013 | % Change | |
| Passenger Vehicles | 2,24,369 | 2,01,520 | -10.18 |
| Commercial Vehicles | 61,403 | 43,730 | -28.78 |
| Three-wheelers | 51,656 | 40,456 | -21.68 |
| Two-wheelers | 11,75,441 | 12,40,732 | 5.55 |
| Total | 15,12,869 | 15,26,438 | 0.9 |
The tapering demand for diesel-powered models took its toll on M&M and Tata Motors. While sales for Mumbai-based Tata Motors declined by 44.86% dip to 14,637 units in November, utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) followed suit registering a slump of 32% selling 18,694 in passenger vehicle sales during the month.
Total sales of commercial vehicles were down by 28.78% to 43,730 units as compared to 61,403 units sold in the corresponding period last year. Sen said the opening of mining activities and infrastructure projects is likely to offer some respite to manufacturers of commercial vehicles.
Bucking industry trend, sales of two-wheelers grew by 5.55% to 1,240,732 units in November. Sales increased largely on back of increased demand for scooter, which has additional ooftake of 25% at 305,586 units during the month. Demand for motorcycles went up by a meagre 1.44% to 880,015 units in the same period.
Overall, sales of vehicles across categories registered a growth of 0.90% to 1,526,438 units in November 2013 as against 1,512,869 units sold in the year-ago period.
