Retail Vehicle Sales Down By 5%: FADA For the auto industry to fully rise above pre-pandemic levels, the rural market (now known as Bharat) and the two-wheeler segment need to perform better

The total vehicle retail sales during December 2022 fell by 5 per cent on a year-on-year basis. The three- wheeler segment grew by 42 per cent, passenger vehicles by 8 per cent, Tractor five per cent, commercial vehicles grew by 11 per cent and the two-wheeler segment fell by 11 per cent y-o-y, said a data released by Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).

The two-wheeler segment failed to impress because of rise in inflation, increased cost of ownership in the rural market and increased EV sales. "The month of December went into a lull after two super months of October and November," said Manish Raj Singhania, FADA president, commenting on the performances of December 2022 and calendar year (CY) 2022.

For CY 2022, while total vehicle retail grew by 15 per cent YoY and 17 per cent compared to CY 2020, it failed to surpass CY 2019 retails, (a pre-covid year) and registered a fall of 10 per cent. The passenger vehicle category in CY 2022 gained new grounds by clocking 34.31L retails during the full year.

"The three-wheeler segment which was completely down during covid has recovered well and has narrowed its gap when compared to CY 2019. Within the segment it's the electric rickshaw sub-segment which is showing triple digit growth thus pushing the EV market share above 50 per cent mark," the release added.

The PV segment has continued to show remarkable consistency in growth during the entire year. While supply woes have decreased, better product spread and ever higher consumer offers have kept consumer interest on. The CV segment has continued to grow during entire CY 2022 and is now almost at par with CY 2019 retails.

The Tractor segment is the only other segment apart from PV which has grown well above CY 2021, CY 2020 and pre-pandemic year of 2019. It has also registered a new sales of 7.94 lakh. "This feat was possible due to consistently good monsoon, improved cash flow with farmers, better MSP of crops and government's focus on better procurements. Apart from this, timely sowing of rabi crops also helped to continue this momentum. Festive season sales which were normal after three years also played its part in this strong momentum."

With BS-VI phase two norms kicking in shortly, vehicle price hike may continue to affect sales during Q4 FY'23. For the auto industry to fully rise above pre-pandemic level, the rural market (now known as Bharat) and the two-wheeler segment need to perform better.