India’s passenger vehicle sales rose to 10.74 lakh in the July to September quarter, the highest ever in a quarter, from 10.26 lakh in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed on October 16.
On a monthly basis, total passenger vehicle sales rose 1.8 percent to 3.61 lakh in September versus 3.55 lakh in the same month in 2022.
Among segments, three-wheelers have recorded the highest-ever sales at 1.95 lakh during the quarter under review, surpassing the 2018-19 level, SIAM pointed out. Two-wheeler sales on the other hand have slipped below 2016-17 levels to 45.98 lakh in the September quarter.
Production for the quarter under review is on the rise too, with a 5.5 percent jump in production of total passenger vehicles from 12.13 lakh in the quarter ended September 2022 to 12.81 lakh in the same quarter in 2023. The total production, meanwhile, has risen 68 percent year-on-year.
However, exports have slipped 6 percent y-o-y during the quarter. The number of vehicles exported in the second quarter of the fiscal fell to 11.79 lakh from 12.54 lakh in the September quarter of the previous year.
About exports, the SIAM president Vinod Aggarwal said, fundamental factors are the same i.e. sluggish demand due to geopolitical issues and forex problems in a few economies.
He also highlighted that there were no issues on the semiconductor side and also no immediate impact of the Israel-Palestine conflict on the auto industry. “The dependence on Israel is limited, we will have to wait and watch if the conflict escalates and causes concern,” he said.
Aggarwal also said that entry level demand is not entirely back yet and that fall in inflation in rural areas may positively impact demand. He noted that EVs that comprise around 1.5 percent of total market were doing stable and he has a positive outlook for rest of the year.