Driven by strong demand, retail car sales in India hit record highs in all segments except tractors this festive season, reporting year-on-year increases, dealer body FADA said on Tuesday.
Overall car sales increased by 19% to 3,793,584 units during this year’s 42-day Christmas period, compared to 3,195,213 units last year.
Retail passenger car sales during the period, which started on the first day of Navratri and ended 15 days after Dhanteras, stood at 547,246 units, up 10% from 496,047 units in the same period last year.
“Despite the initially weak performance during Navratri, especially in the passenger car sector, the situation improved by Diwali and ended with a growth rate of 10 per cent,” said Manish Raj, president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations. Chairman Singhania said.
Sport utility vehicles were the most popular segment during the holiday period, he added.
However, Singhania noted that passenger vehicle inventory levels remain a significant concern as OEMs continue to push for further shipments and inventory rates remain near record high levels.
Similarly, the number of registered motorcycles increased from 2,396,665 units in 2022 to 2,893,107 units this year, an increase of 21% year-on-year.
“Several categories have reported record sales, with rural areas in particular contributing to the surge in two-wheeler purchases,” he said.
Commercial vehicle sales increased by 8% year-on-year to 123,784 units in 42 days.
Three-wheeler registrations increased by 41% to 1,42,875 units during the period from 1,01,052 units in the year-ago period. However, tractor sales fell slightly to 86,572 units from 86,951 units during last year’s Christmas period.
“Tractors, whose sales declined by 8.3 per cent during Navratri, showed a remarkable recovery and ended the Christmas period with a decline of only 0.5 per cent,” Singhania said.
This year’s festival period started on October 15th and ended on November 25th. Last year it lasted from September 26th to November 6th. FADA announced that it has collated vehicle registration data for 1,355 vehicles out of 1,442 RTOs. FADA India represents over 15,000 car dealerships with his 30,000+ dealerships across India.