New vehicle registration up 8.5% to 1.5 million in January: Dealers

Vehicle registration has increased 8.5 per cent to 1,565,150 in January, from 1,442,514 units in December 2018. This has  been mainly due to an uptick in passenger vehicle registrations, even as the commercial vehicle registration was flat.

Passenger vehicle sales reported nearly 33.97 per cent growth, which is almost double compared to the past. 

The worrying part is registration of two-wheeler numbers, the bread and butter for a major chunk of dealers, which has been facing pressure due to an increase in inventory levels.

The two-wheeler and three-wheeler registrations have grown 4.25 per cent and 11.86 per cent respectively, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).

FADA’s President, Ashish Harsharaj Kale said, “The inventory of two-wheeler dealers continues to be very high. This puts burden on the dealers, who are already facing problem due to liquidity constraint, high- working capital and others. The association wants the two-wheeler makers to recalibrate the inventory system.”