Automobile sales in India see worst-ever fall in August

This is the steepest fall in overall vehicle sales in the country since Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) started recording wholesale vehicle sales data in 1997-98.

Vehicle sales across categories, including passenger vehicles (PVs) and two-wheelers and commercial vehicles (CVs) stood at 18,21,490 units last month as against 23,82,436 units in Aug 2018, a fall of 23.55 pc. In July, overall auto sales had witnessed its sharpest decline in nearly 19 years, dropping 18.71 pc to 18,25,148 units last month as against 22,45,223 units in July 2018.

Domestic PV sales saw its worst-ever fall in August, slumping by 31.57 pc to 1,96,524 units from 2,87,198 units in the year-ago period. Previously, the worst decline in the segment was registered in July this year when wholesales had fallen 30.98 pc to 2,00,790 units. The fall in PV sales in August was also the tenth consecutive month of decline. In fact, all vehicle categories witnessed decline in sales during the month. In the PV segment, market leader Maruti Suzuki India posted 36.14 pc decline in its August sales at 93,173 units.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) also witnessed 16.58 pc decrease at 38,205 units. SIAM said passenger car sales in August were also the worst ever. Last month, domestic car sales were down 41.09 pc at 1,15,957 units as against 1,96,847 units in August 2018. Besides, total two-wheeler sales last month declined by a record 22.24 pc to 15,14,196 units compared to 19,47,304 units in the year-ago month. Commercial vehicle sales were down 38.71 pc to 51,897 units in August as compared with 84,668 units in August 2018. Similarly, motorcycle sales last month declined 22.33 pc to 9,37,486 units as against 12,07,005 units a year earlier. Scooter sales declined by 22.19 pc to 5,20,898 units as compared with 6,69,416 units in August last year. In the two-wheeler category, Chennai-based TVS Motor Co saw it sales slump by 20.37 pc at 2,19,528 units in August.