Auto sales fall 19.08% in February

Overall sales in the auto industry fell 19.08% in February from a year ago, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Friday.

The auto industry has seen falling sales for more than a year due to low consumer sentiment worked by a host of reasons such as the transition to BS VI emission norms and a slowing economy. The latest worry for it is the disruption in the supply of auto parts from China due to the coronavirus outbreak. Experts say the situation could worsen if the spread is not contained in the next few weeks.

According to SIAM data, the industry sold 1,646,332 units last month as compared to 2,034,597 units in the same period last year. The commercial vehicles segment, which includes medium and heavy and light vehicles, suffered the steepest fall. It sold 58,670 units last month—a drop of 32.90% year-on-year (y-o-y).

With sales at 251,516 units, passenger vehicles, India’s largest segment by volumes, suffered a 7.6% fall y-o-y. The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India sold 3.6% less, while Tata Motors’ sales fell by 34%. Mahindra and Mahindra reported a 42% fall to 30,637 units from 52,915 units a year ago.

The two-wheeler segment, too, clocked 1,294,791 units in February as compared to 1,614,941 units last year, registering a fall of 19.82%.

Overall production, too, went down by 18.14%. The industry produced 2,025,931 units last month as compared to 2,475,018 units in the year-ago period.

However, the industry exported rose by 11.05% to 415,329 units from 373,991 units a year ago.