India’s passenger car sales plunge 25% in Feb

March 14, 2013: India’s passenger car sales fell for the fourth consecutive month in February 2013 with sales plunging by 25.71 percent to 1,58,513 units (February 2012: 213,362), said apex industry body SIAM as a slowing economy and high interest rates continued to affect buyer sentiment adversely. The usual consumer rush to buy cars before the presentation of the Union Budget on February 28 was not seen last month.

Car sales are down 4.6 percent for the first 11 months of 2012-13, SIAM said. In January, it had said vehicle sales would be between 0-1 percent. With the Budget imposing an additional 3 percent excise duty hike on utility vehicles, and with just one month to go before the end of fiscal 2012-13, March 2013 sales are not expected to be better.

In another sign of tough times, motorcycle sales fell by 4.48 percent to 800,185 units in February 2013, down from 837,743 units in February 2012. Total two-wheeler sales (including scooters and mopeds) in February 2013 declined by 2.77 percent to 1,112,289 units from 11,43,982 units in the same period of the previous year. Meanwhile, commercial vehicle sales fell by 11.06 percent to 68,388 units from 76,891 units in the year-ago period.

Overall, total sales of vehicles across categories fell 5.45 percent to 1,451,278 units in February 2013 as against 1,534,910 units in February 2012.