Auto sales are picking up smartly after a tough two years but volumes for several segments remain well below the peaks scaled in 2011-12, reports Malyaban Ghosh in Mumbai. In the eight months to November, total sales of passenger cars were 1,344,306 units, boosted by strong performances from Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. But, with four months to go, the peak sales of 2,015,453 units seen in 2011-12 are unlikely to be achieved.
Similarly, sales of heavy and medium trucks have done exceptionally well to grow by 31.38% y-o-y to 1,81,651 units on the back of a rise in the supply of cargo from the infrastructure, manufacturing and agriculture sectors.
Nevertheless, the peak volume of 3,48,571 units is still far away. Abdul Majeed, partner, PriceWaterHouse Coopers, says even the momentum seen during the festive months could be somewhat fragile. “The manufacturing sector needs to grow, and demand in the rural and urban pockets needs to be revived before we can go back to the kind of growth seen in 2011-12,” Majeed says.
Utility vehicles, which struggled in the first six months of the fiscal, reported better numbers in October and November as products like Hyundai Creta and TUV 300 sold good volumes during the festive period.
Till November, UV sales were at 3,73,327 units, substantially smaller than in 2012-13 when they hit a high of 7,909,58 vehicles.
