Automobile Sales Grows 11% In Dec; First Monthly Growth In FY21

On Monday, automobile dealers' body FADA (Federation of Automobile Dealers Association) said that total sales across categories increased 11.01% to 18,44,143 units last month compared to 16,61,245 units in December 2019.

This is the first monthly rise in retail sales of automobiles in the financial year 2020-21.

Figures compiled by FADA represent the actual sale of vehicles by dealers to customers and not dispatches from factories to dealerships as released by companies on the first of every month. Data was collected on vehicle registration from 1,270 out of the 1,477 regional transport offices (RTOs).

The increase in sales is likely due to new launches, cheaper finance and pre-buying by consumers to avoid January's price increase.

The data further showed that the passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales in December witnessed a year-on-year increase of 23.99% to 2,71,249 units when compared to 2,18,775 units in the same month of 2019.

Two-wheeler sales increased 11.88% to 14,24,620 units last month, as compared to 12,73,318 units in December 2019. Commercial vehicle sales, however, slipped 13.52% to 51,454 units in December 2020, as against 59,497 units a year ago.

Similarly, three-wheeler sales fell 52.75% to 27,715 units last month, from 58,651 units in December 2019. Tractor sales, however, grew by 35.49% to 69,105 units last month, against 51,004 units in the same month of 2019.