India passenger car sales bounce back in November, but scooters zip

Passenger car sales in November 2014 have bounced back after two consecutive months of negative sales with the segment recording a 9.52 percent increase, according to SIAM data released today. The segment sold 156,445 units, up from 142,849 units in November 2013.

However, these numbers are fewer than the numbers for October 2014 which were 159,036 units. This perhaps indicates that the car segment is still not out of the woods. The government’s current excise regime will continue to till the end of December and indications are that it will be extended to March 2015.

In November, sales of new models continued to do well. Maruti Suzuki India and Honda Cars India led the charge in sales with monthly increases of 17 and 64 percent respectively. Incidentally, this is the first full month of sales after the government re-regulated diesel prices.

In November, the Utility Vehicle segment continued its fall in monthly tallies with sales down by nearly seven percent. Vans sales though were up marginally by 2.41 percent.

In the Commercial Vehicle segment,  sales were up 9 percent. The medium and heavy CV segment saw sales up 40 percent to 14,483 units as against 9,642 units in November 2013. Studies have indicated that in CVs, sales are up boosted by replacement demand and the fact that payments on loans contracted have been paid off.Again, sales of scooters were the icing on the cake with sales up by 26.49 percent. In terms of numbers, 386,547 units were sold as against 305,586 units in the year-earlier month. Motorcycle sales though fell three percent to 853,254 units as against 880,078 units, its second consecutive monthly dip in sales, possibly marking to a decline in rural sales.

Overall, November 2014 sales for all segments of the auto sector were up 5.03 percent. In terms of numbers, sales were 1,603,292 units as against 1,526,514 units in November 2013.

For the eight-month period ended November 2014, total passenger vehicle sales were up by 2.68 percent to 1,685,907 units up from 1,641,915 units a year ago. M&HCVs saw an increase of 5.30 percent to 138,228 units, up from 131,274 units in the earlier eight-month period of April-November 2013.

Overall eight-month growth notched is 10 percent to 13,387,824 units as against 12,170,065 units.