February car sales down 1.11% on high interest rates, cost of insurance

Experts feel tepid demand will continue till election results

The automobile industry continued losing customers in February as all the segments saw significant decline in sales due to high interest rates, subdued market sentiments and high cost of insurance.

This is the seventh month since July that has seen a decline.

The industry sold 20,34,768 units of automobiles last month, down 3.65 per cent compared to 21,11,804 units in the same month last year, according to data from the Society of Automobile Manufacturers Association (Siam).

These are the wholesale numbers as the companies do not reveal their retail sales data.  Experts feel the tepid situation would continue till the general elections as