Auto Sales Downturn: Passenger Vehicles Sales Decline 7% In June
The Indian automotive industry experienced a mixed bag of results in the first quarter or April-June 2025, according to SIAM data.
The Indian automotive industry experienced a mixed bag of results in the first quarter or April-June 2025, according to SIAM data. The overall domestic sales sees a slight decline of 5.1% to 60.75 lakh units compared to 64.01 lakh in the year ago period. While certain segments showed growth, others faced headwinds and inventory corrections.
Passenger Vehicles: UVs Drive Growth Amid Overall Dip
Passenger Vehicle sales surpassed the 1 million mark in the first quarter, reaching 10.12 lakh units again. This marked a marginal de-growth of 1.4% compared to the same period last year.
Utility Vehicles emerged as a strong performer, with their share in the Passenger Vehicle segment growing to 66% and posting a 3.8% growth. The Passenger Cars segment was down 11.2%. Exports in this segment saw a 13.2% growth, reaching 2.04 lakh units.
Two-Wheelers, Three-Wheelers And Commercial Vehicles
The Two-Wheeler segment registered sales of 46.75 lakh units over the period. It also was down 6.2% year-on-year, primarily due to industry-wide inventory correction. Despite this, retail registrations rose by 5%. Two-wheeler exports showed a significant rebound, growing by 23.2% to 1.14 million units.
Three-Wheelers achieved their highest-ever Q1 sales, reaching 1.65 lakh units, a marginal growth of 0.1%. This growth was driven by the Passenger Carrier sub-segment. Exports for Three-Wheelers also performed well, with a 34.4% growth to 0.96 lakh units.
The Commercial Vehicle segment experienced a marginal down tick of 0.6%, with sales totaling 2.23 lakh units. Commercial Vehicle exports recorded a growth of 23.4% in the first quarter.
Outlook And Concerns
"Sales of Passenger Vehicles in Q1 of 2025-26 de-grew by 1.4%... Sales of Three-Wheelers in Q1 of 2025-26 grew marginally by 0.1%... Two-Wheelers registered a de-growth of 6.2%... while Commercial Vehicles de-grew marginally by 0.6%," Rajesh Menon, director general, SIAM, commented.
Shailesh Chandra, president of SIAM, commented on the overall sentiment, "The performance of the Auto industry was relatively flat... Overall sentiments across categories have remained subdued so far, even as the industry continues to navigate supply side challenges. With the upcoming festival season coupled with the benefits of RBI repo rate cuts, we expect consumer sentiments to improve."
The industry remains cautiously optimistic for the second quarter, anticipating recovery driven by the festive season, an above-normal monsoon aiding rural income, and easing borrowing costs. Despite this, supply-side challenges, such as export licensing requirements from China on rare earth magnets, remain a concern.
