April auto retail sales drop of 4% on decline in two-wheeler demand

Owing to a dip in customer demand for two-wheelers and pre-buying in March, the automobile retail sales in April saw a four per cent decline to 1.72 million units, down from 1.79 million units in April last year, data shared by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) said. This is likely to recover in May due to higher queries coming for the upcoming marriage season.

Fall in passenger vehicle sales after eight months was another factor behind the overall decline. 

Although the three-wheeler segment enjoyed robust growth of 57 per cent year-on-year (YoY), tractor and commercial vehicles (CV) segments grew by a modest one per cent and two per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, the two-wheeler and passenger vehicle categories experienced YoY de-growth of seven per cent and one per cent, respectively. Compared to April 2019, two-wheeler sales are still down by 19 per cent.

“The major contribution towards de-growth is obviously two-wheelers, that went down by 7.3 per cent and after eight months, we could see passenger vehicle industry slightly going down by 1.35 per cent. The de-growth in two-wheelers can be attributed to limited supplies due to the OBD 2A shift, untimely rain, and pre-buying in March. Model mix availability, rural sentiment, and demand in the two-wheeler motorcycle segment remain weak. The rural economy has yet to show significant progress,” said Manish Raj Singhania, president, FADA.