Automobile sales grow 13% in July

Passenger vehicles post sales growth of 16.8%, while two-wheeler sales grew by 13.5% last month

Sales of automobiles in the country grew over 13 per cent in July.

According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers today, sales passenger vehicles grew 16.8 per cent last month. Passenger vehicle sales had grown by 21.46 per cent in October 2015.

“We were anticipating 6-8 per cent growth in passenger vehicle sales this year. This could now improve because of good rainfall and government salary hikes,” said Sugato Sen, deputy director-general of the Siam. Passenger vehicle sales grew 9.23 per cent in April-July.

Two-wheeler sales, under pressure for two years, grew 13.5 per cent last month. A normal rainfall this year is expected to drive sales of motorcycles, which forms bulk of the two-wheeler market. “Growth in motorcycle sales shows there is an uptick in rural demand. Gradually, small cars will also benefit,” Sen said.

Sales of three wheelers also improved by 2 per cent in July.

The surprise in July was a 7.71 per cent drop in sales of medium and commercial vehicles after several months of growth. Sen said fleet replacement demand was driving growth and that demand had been met.

“Medium and heavy commercial vehicles are doing well although there is a softness due to lower replacement demand in the last few months. Small commercial vehicles are finally showing growth mainly on replacement demand,” said Abdul Majeed, partner at PriceWaterhouse and an automobile expert.

Light commercial vehicles sales grew by over 6 per cent in July.

All vehicles combined grew by 13. 22% to 18,33,976 units in July.