July passenger car sales slip, but commercial vehicles off-take zooms

According to the data furnished by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the sales of passenger cars slipped by 0.45 per cent to 191,979 from 192,845 in the corresponding quarter.

The off-take of other sub-segments of passenger vehicle category such as utility vehicles declined by 8.95 per cent during the month to 79,092 units. However, sales of vans increased by 2.79 per cent to 19,889 units.

Consequently, that overall domestic passenger vehicle sales declined by 2.71 per cent in July to 290,960 units from 299,066 units in the corresponding period in 2017.

In contrast, sales of overall commercial vehicles zoomed by 29.65 per cent to 76,497 units in July. The segment is a key indicator of economic activity.

The data pointed-out that off-take of three-wheelers accelerated by 46.24 per cent to 60,341 units during the month.

In addition, overall sales of two-wheelers, which include scooters, motorcycles and mopeds, climbed by 8.17 per cent to 1,817,077 units.

As per the data, total sales of the Indian automobile sector rose by 7.97 per cent during July 2018 to 2,244,875 units across segments and categories.

The overall exports of vehicles across categories also edged higher by 26.01 per cent to 397,782 units.