December Auto Sales Up 21% on Strong Two-wheeler demand

Pune: Automobile retail sales in the country rose 21 per cent in December, led by strong demand for two-wheelers and high discounts on passenger cars, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association or FADA said on Monday.

Sales of motorcycles and scooters rose 28 per cent year-on-year to 14.49 lakh units last month. Overall retail sales had fallen 5.4 per cent in December 2022 on weak two-wheeler demand.

Sales of passenger vehicles grew just 3 per cent in December, driven mostly by demand for SUVs as high discounts only helped clear a small amount of excess inventory, said FADA.

High discounts on smaller cars - which formed a bulk of dealers' excess inventory in the fiscal year helped bring down PV inventory slightly to 55-58 days from 61-64 days in November.

While 21 days is the recommended level for PVs, any inventory level above 30 days is loss-making for dealers, said FADA President Manish Raj Singhania.

New launches will help the auto industry grow in 2024, said FADA, but added it was "cautiously optimistic" for January due to high PV inventory levels.

Total automobile retail sales in India soared 21 per cent in December 2023 to 19.90 lakh units, as compared to 16.43 lakh units in December 2022.

In the calendar year December 2023, the retail sales were up 11 per cent to 2.38 crore units against 2.14 crore units in 2022.