Dealer sentiment in India swings back into positive territory, says Sewells study

The overall ADCI indicates a sharp swing from -3 at the end of Q1 2015 to +7 at the end of Q2 2015, indicating a significant shift in optimistic sentiment of automotive dealers across the country.

By Autocar Professional Bureau

20 Jul 2015

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CV index up from -44 (Jan-Mar ’15) to -27 (Apr-Jun ’15), indicating positive shift in dealer confidence levels.

Passenger car index shows sharp increase from -2 (Jan-Mar 2015) to +14 in Q2 2015.

After declining consecutively for two quarters, 2W index has jumped to +9 in Q2 2015 from 0 at end- Q1 2015.

Sewells Group India has released the results of its Automotive Dealer Confidence Index (ADCI) survey for India for the April-June 2015 quarter. The overall ADCI indicates a sharp swing from -3 at the end of Q1 2015 to +7 at the end of Q2 2015, indicating a significant shift in optimistic sentiment of automotive dealers across the country.

Sewells Group India, which provides dealer development solutions and services to the automotive industry in India. The survey was conducted in the beginning of July 2015, in which 184 dealers participated from 133 cities, representing 29 brands across passenger car, two-wheeler and commercial vehicle categories.

The key highlights from the survey are:

- The passenger car index has shown a sharp increase from -2 at the end of January-March 2015 quarter to +14 at the end of April-May 2015 quarter.

- After declining consecutively for two quarters, the two-wheeler index has jumped to +9 at the end of Q2 2015 from 0 at the end of Q1 2015, indicating a slight positive shift in the sentiment of two-wheeler dealers.

- The commercial vehicle index has jumped from -44 at the end of January-March 2015 quarter to -27 at the end of April-June 2015 quarter, indicating a positive shift in the confidence of the commercial vehicle index.

- The overall ADCI has increased from -3 at the end of end of January-March 2015 quarter to +7 indicating and upward movement in the sentiment of the surveyed dealers.

Commenting on the findings of the study, Jayesh Jagasia, CEO of Sewells Group India, said: “It is encouraging to note a significant swing in the ADCI after two quarters of decline. The positive sentiment of the dealer fraternity at the end of the April-June quarter indicates that overall, dealers carry an optimistic sentiment with a six-month time horizon. While the sentiment of commercial vehicle dealers continues to remain firmly pessimistic, passenger car and two-wheeler dealers have indicated a sharp swing in their optimism. This augurs well for the impact of monsoon on sales performance this year. It will be interesting to observe if the positive sentiment is sustained over the next few months as we approach the festive season.”