Domestic passenger cars' sales continued to decline in May, the segment's off-take fell 26.03 per cent.
Industry observers pointed out that high base effect, along with low demand and high interest cost continued to dent purchases.
The data furnished by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed that passenger cars sales in the domestic market dropped to 147,546 units from 199,479 units sold during May 2018.
Among the other sub-segments of passenger vehicles, the number of utility vehicles sold in India went down by 5.64 per cent to 77,453 units in May 2019, while 14,348 vans were sold last month, down 27.07 per cent from 2018.
Overall, passenger vehicle sales declined 20.55 per cent in May to 239,347 units from 301,238 units.
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In the commercial vehicle segment, domestic sales were down by 10.02 per cent to 68,847 units last month, SIAM said.
Similarly, the data pointed out that three-wheelers' sales decelerated. The segment's offtake went down by 5.76 per cent to 51,650 units during the month in consideration.
In addition, overall sales of two-wheelers, which include scooters, motorcycles and mopeds, edged lower by 6.73 per cent to 1,726,206 units.
As per the data, total sales of the Indian automobile sector declined by 8.62 per cent during May 2019 to 2,086,358 units across segments and categories.
Overall exports of vehicles across categories was lower by 0.49 per cent to 396,833 units.
According to SIAM's Director General Vishnu Mathur, the sector has been moving towards inventory correction even as it invests in R&D for upcoming safety norms and electric vehicles,
"Dwindling sales in passenger cars shows no signs of rebounding yet due to various factors like drying up financing resources with the NBFC troubles, election related impasse, high base number and BS VI expectations in a couple of quarters," said Sridhar V., Partner, Grant Thornton India LLP.
"Many OEM's have plans afoot in cutting back production to reduce the inventory piling up at dealership. The segment is hoping for budget to throw some encouraging news."
--IANS
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