Passenger vehicle sales drop 2% in Oct

Two wheeler sales buck the trend, up 18% over a year

Continuing with this year's trend of declining automobile sales, passenger vehicle sales stood at 239,137 units in October, a two per cent fall from to the year-ago period.

Despite the fact that passenger cars recorded this year's highest sales in October, it is difficult to say if the market has bottomed out yet, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam).

Total sale of commercial vehicles (CV) also declined 19.8 per cent, year-on-year, to 53,533 units in October. Within the CV segment, medium and heavy vehicle sales stood at 14,261 units, a fall of 31.6 per cent compared to the year-ago period.

Vishnu Mathur, director-general of Siam, said commercial vehicle sales was a reflection of the health of any economy and this was the 20th month of decline in their sales. "Demand is only coming from the replacement market as major sectors such as mining and infrastructure continue to be affected."

However, the 31.6 per cent drop in medium and heavy commercial vehicle was slightly better than the 41.8 per cent and 38.2 per cent decline recorded in September and August, respectively.

While two wheelers sales were up 18 per cent in October over last year, the overall domestic auto sales rose 12.7 per cent to 1.8 million units against the year-ago period despite all major categories such as commercial and passenger vehicle sales remaining in the negative zone.

Two wheelers constitute 80 per cent of the overall market. Purchases around the festive season, in addition to the rural demand, improved the numbers.