As per data available with industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) as many as 281,210 passenger vehicles were sold in the domestic market last month, which is an increase of about 21% over 232,224 units sold in the year-ago period.
The growth would have been even higher at about 24% if we were to include the volumes of Tata Motors, which has stopped reporting data on a monthly basis to SIAM. Tata Motors sold 47,166 passenger vehicles in August.
Automakers in India mostly report wholesale dispatches from factories to dealerships and not retail sales to customers. Industry estimates overall around 3.29 lakh units were dispatched last month with automakers gearing up to quicken deliveries to customers in the upcoming festive season.
This would be the fifth time that passenger vehicle sales crossed the three-lakh mark this year. New models launched by the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and especially SUVs fuelled high despatches during the month.
Commercial vehicle sales too maintained steady growth last month, demand for two-wheelers went up by 16% to 1,557,429 units. While sales of scooters rose 9.5% to 504,146 units, those of motorcycles grew 23% to 1,016,794 units.
Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM said “While good monsoon and the upcoming festive season is likely to increase demand, SIAM is keeping a close watch on the dynamic supply-side challenges. High CNG prices is a big challenge for the industry and we keenly look forward to the kind interventions and support from the Government.”
Three-wheeler dispatches increased 62.5% to 38,369 units in August.
Overall, sales of automobiles across categories grew 18% to 1,877,072 units last month.
