Two-Wheelers, Commercial Vehicles Drag Down Retail Auto Sales In 2019

Retail auto sales resumed their decline in December, after two months of recovery on account of the festive season, indicating that the makers of cars and two-wheelers are yet to recover from the worst slowdown in more than two decades.The full year data shows that while the auto industry did suffer a sales contraction, it wasn’t as severe as the decline in wholesales. This indicates that a significant part of the problem, atleast for passenger vehicles, was lower inventory holding capacity at dealerships. Of course, that’s an outcome of sluggish sales and credit difficulties. But maybe, and we’ll know better once industry-wide wholesale data for the calendar year is published by SIAM, millennials got a bad rap for little reason.Vehicle registrations—a measure of sales at dealerships—fell 16.7 percent year-on-year and 30.7 percent sequentially to 15.69 lakh units in December, according to data from 1,171 regional transport offices in 31 states and union territories, collated by BloombergQuint from the website of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.Demand generally picks up in December ahead of the new year when automakers tend to hike prices of popular models. Also, the registration data have been calibrated to reflect the issuance of registration certificate, denoting completion of the registration process instead of just sales at the dealers’ end.That means sales at dealerships could now take a few more days before they can be recorded as registrations, indicating a possibility of rollover from the previous month. Yet, retail sales declined..As for the full year, vehicle registration in 2019 fell 2.6 percent over the last year to 2.10 crore units, data collated by BloombergQuint showed. That was mainly led by a fall in sales of commercial vehicles and two-wheelers..A BloombergQuint survey of eight dealerships across the country, too, revealed that they remain cautious about the outlook ahead as the consumer sentiment remains weak..India’s Auto Slowdown Is Making The Dealer Network Leaner, Nimbler.Commercial Vehicles Hurt The Most.Registration of two-wheelers fell 33.1 percent monthly and 18.3 percent on a yearly basis in December.In 2019, two-wheeler registrations fell 2.8 percent year-on-year to 16.21 lakh units..Passenger car registrations fell 26.9 percent sequentially and 9.1 percent on a yearly basis in December.In 2019, registrations remained flat at 32.27 lakh units..Commercial vehicles witnessed a year-on-year decline in registrations for 10 straight months. Monthly, the segment’s sales fell 20.3 percent in December.For 2019, commercial vehicle registrations fell 11.9 percent over last year to 8.95 lakh units..While tractor registrations rose 5.4 percent monthly, they fell 14.1 percent year-on-year in December. For 2019, tractor registrations were down 3.8 percent.“Tractor demand looks positive in the near term led by expectations of a better Rabi output, supported by crop prices and government thrust on irrigation, rural infra and agricultural sector,” Rajesh Jejurikar, president (farm equipment sector) at Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said in a statement on the exchanges..Three-wheeler registrations fell 19.3 percent sequentially and 1 percent year-on-year in December. In 2019, three wheeler registrations were up 1.5 percent..December Wholesale Auto Sales Live: Ashok Leyland Sales Fall 28%; Royal Enfield Sales Decline 13%

Two-Wheelers, Commercial Vehicles Drag Down Retail Auto Sales In 2019

Vehicle registrations, an indicator of retail auto sales, fell in 2019, but maybe millennials got a bad rap for little reason.

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