Commercial vehicle sales slip 72 per cent: FADA

Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) in its latest data has shown that the passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales declined by 25.19 per cent to 1,57,373 units in July 2020 as compared to the sales of 2,10,377 units in July 2019 as Coronavirus pandemic continued to impact vehicle offtake.

Automobile dealers' body FADA collects vehicle registration data from 1,235, out of the 1,445 regional transport offices (RTOs).

As per the data, two-wheeler sales declined 37.47 per cent to 8,74,638 units last month as compared to 13,98,702 units in July 2019. The sales of commercial vehicles declined 72.18 per cent to 19,293 units as compared to 69,338 units in July 2019.

Meanwhile, three-wheeler sales declined by 74.33 per cent to 15,132 units last month, as compared to 58,940 units in July 2019. The total sales across categories declined 36.27 per cent to 11,42,633 units in the last month as against 17,92,879 units in the year-ago month.

Commenting on the retail sales in the month of July, FADA President Ashish Harsharaj Kale observed that as the country continues to re-open, the previous month saw better registrations in comparison to June, though on a YoY basis, the auto sector recovery is yet to be seen anywhere near normal. He noted that the current market conditions are still not indicative of the actual demand situation on an all-India level and retail continues to de-grow in huge double-digit despite the low base of the last year.

On the sales outlook for August, he said that if there were no further lockdowns, especially in auto manufacturing hubs, the outlook for the month would be positive in comparison to July. However, the full-year outlook continues to remain negative with a projected de-growth in the retail sales in the range of 15-35 per cent across various segments, except tractors, which seems to clock a positive annual growth.