Passenger car sales up around 10% in July: Siam

Passenger cars sales grew by 9.62% in July to 177,604 units from 162,022 units sold during the corresponding month of last year, industry data showed on Wednesday.

The utility vehicles' (UVs) off-take zoomed in the month under review by 41.85% to 64,105 units, whereas van sales were up 18.61% to 17,976 units.

According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), the total passenger vehicle sales, which includes cars, utility vehicles and vans, accelerated by 16.78% to 259,685 units last month.

Industry data for July disclosed that sales of overall commercial vehicles inched up by 0.11%. The segment is a key indicator of economic activity.

The commercial vehicles segment's off-take for July 2016 stood at 51,853 units.

Three-wheelers sales, too, logged a healthy growth of 2.10% to 46,098 units last month.

Overall, sales of two-wheelers, which include scooters, motorcycles and mopeds, grew exponentially. The segment's sales rose by 13.52% to 1,476,340 units.

Product-wise, scooter sales in the month under review grew by 16.66% to 504,258 units, whereas the motorcycle sub-segment sales, logged a growth of 10.98% to 897,092 units.

Besides, mopeds' off-take zoomed by 25.27% to 74,990 units.

However, overall exports across categories declined by 11.53% to 305,060 units, which were shipped out during last month.

Total automobile sales last month were higher by 13.22% to 1,833,976 units from 1,619,771 units sold in July, 2015.

Abdul Majeed, Partner-Price Waterhouse and an auto expert, said: "Indian automotive industry is clearly on the recovery path. Small cars and compact sport utility vehicle (SUVs) are doing well and many first time buyers are moving to compact SUVs."

"Two-wheelers are expected to do well with better monsoons and scooters will grow faster compared to motorcycles due to customer changing preference."