Passenger vehicle dispatches to dealerships moderated on high inventory, while two-wheeler sales jumped on sustained momentum in November.
The sales of passenger vehicles grew 3.7% to 3.34 lakh units, while two-wheeler volumes jumped 31% to 16.23 lakh units during the months, data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed.
The two-paced growth within the auto sector throws up conflicting signals. The passenger vehicle industry is slowing down as sports utility vehicles, the key driver of demand, may not be able to sustain the momentum. At the same time, two-wheeler demand, an indicator of rural consumption, is picking up.
Auto Wholesale Sales In November (YoY):
Passenger vehicle sales rose 3.7% to 3.34 lakh units.
Two-wheeler sales rose 31% to 16.23 lakh units.
Three-wheeler sales rose 31% to 59,738 units.
The 30-day inventory post-festivals was higher than the usual stock of three weeks across dealerships. Automakers had shipped 3.90 lakh vehicles to car dealers in October in anticipation of robust sales during the festive season.
Dealers prefer to maintain lower inventory towards the end of the year as buyers tend to defer vehicle purchases to get the latest model.
The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations had asked carmakers to reduce vehicle dispatches and launch attractive schemes to clear out the all-time high inventory in the channel.
For two-wheelers, record festive retail sales and multi-year inventory lows at dealerships led to strong growth in dispatches in November.
Two-wheeler sales jumped 21% year-on-year to 22.5 lakh units, beating previous record of 20.7 lakh unit sales in March 2020, data from FADA showed last week.
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