Passenger vehicle sales zoom past record 30 lakh mark in 2017

Passenger vehicle sales in India crossed 30 lakh mark for the first time in 2017, growing at a five-year high of 8.85 per cent on the back of robust demand for utility vehicles.
According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), passenger vehicle sales in 2017 stood at 32,29,109 units as against 29,66,603 units in 2016, a growth of 8.85 per cent.
With sales remaining in the positive territory during the first three quarters of the current fiscal, SIAM has pegged the segment to grow by 9 per cent against a previous forecast of 7-9 per cent in 2017-18.

In 2017 year, although car remained the mainstay of the PV segment growing by 5.13 per cent at 21,68,151 units as against 20,62,357 units in 2016, it was the growth of utility vehicles (UV) that stood out last year.
UV sales stood at 8,70,060 units in 2017 as against 7,24,522 units in 2016, up 20.09 per cent.
Besides, a record 1,91,76,905 two-wheelers were sold last year, up 8.43 per cent from 1,76,86,685 units sold in 2016.

"In 2017, for the first time more than 3.2 million passenger vehicles were sold in the domestic market. Last year also saw record sales of 19 million two wheelers," SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen told reporters here.

In terms of growth rate, PV sales in 2017 was the fastest since 2012 when it rose by 9.77 per cent.
SIAM said vehicle sales across categories, including CVs and two-wheelers, grew by 8.39 per cent to 2,37,39,780 units in 2017 as compared with 2,19,01,703 units in 2016.
On the back of strong performance during the first three quarters of the current fiscal, Sen said SIAM has zeroed in on 9 per cent growth for the PV segment.
For the commercial vehicles, he said it has been revised upwards to 13 per cent from an earlier estimate of 4-6 per cent, while for two-wheelers it has been pegged at 12 per cent against a previous forecast of 9-11 per cent.

In 2016-17 fiscal, PV sales had grown by 9.23 per cent, CVs by 4.16 per cent and two wheelers by 6.89 per cent.
Commenting on the market environment, Sen said the auto industry, except for CVs, has now been now been able to recover from demonetisation.
He, however, added that while some members were having some issues with regards to the GST, SIAM expects them to be settled by March.
In December, passenger vehicle sales rose 5.22 per cent to 2,39,712 units from 2,27,823 units in December 2016.
Domestic car sales, however, declined marginally to 1,58,326 units as against 1,58,617 units in December 2016.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki India posted a growth of 11.44 per cent at 1,18,560 units, while rival Hyundai Motor India was up marginally at 40,158.
Mahindra & Mahindra saw sales drop by 6.99 per cent at 15,531 units. Homegrown rival Tata Motors saw a growth of 33.94 per cent at 16,089 units in December 2017.
Total two-wheeler sales in December rose 41.45 per cent to 12,87,592 units compared to 910,276 units in the year-ago month.
Motorcycle sales last month rose 40.31 per cent to 7,88,156 units as against 5,61,710 units a year earlier.
Market leader Hero MotoCorp posted domestic sales of 3,98,816 units as against 2,79,448 units in the year-ago month, up 42.71 per cent.

Rival Bajaj Auto saw its bike sales rise 5.87 per cent to 1,12,930 units as against 1,06,665 units in the same month last year. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) saw its sales rise by 133 per cent to 124425 units as against 53,400 units in December 2016.
In the scooters segment, total sales last month were at 4,32,429 units as against 2,84,405 units in December 2016, up 52.05 per cent.
Segment leader HMSI posted sales of 2,38,820 units as against 1,51,758 units in the year-ago month, up 57.36 per cent, while Chennai-based TVS Motor Co had sales of 80,140 units as compared to 52,137 units in December 2016, a jump of 53.71 per cent.

Hero MotoCorp's scooter sales were at 57,054 units last month as against 32,785 units in November last year, up 74.02 per cent.
Sales of commercial vehicles were up 52.62 per cent to 82,362 units in December, SIAM said.
Vehicle sales across categories registered a rise of 36.39 per cent to 16,66,646 units from 12,21,969 units in December 2016, it added.