Retail automobile sales during March 2021 fell sharply by 28.64 percent as compared to the same month last year, as per the latest vehicle registration data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) on Thursday.
However, auto registrations in March grew 10.05 percent as against February.
Tractors and Passenger Vehicles (PV) sustained its healthy momentum by growing 29.21 percent and 28.39 percent, YoY. This growth can be associated with multiple factors like a low base of last year, a transition from BS-4 to BS-6, and India going under total lockdown, FADA said in a release.
On YoY basis, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and Commercial Vehicles (CV) fell by 35.26 percent, 50.72 percent and 42.20 percent, respectively.
On MoM basis, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, CV, PV and tractor sales grew by 9.54 percent, 14.15 percent, 14.15 percent, 10.11 percent and 12.60 percent, respectively.
The global shortage of wafers which is an input for semiconductors continued to linger around and kept PV waiting period as high as 7 months.
According to FADA Survey, 47 percent PV dealers said they lost more than 20 percent of sales due to supply-side constraints.
There was no significant change in Dealer inventory days as PV & 2W inventory remained in the range of 10-15 and 30-35 days, the industry body added.
“The second wave of COVID-19 is not only spreading faster but is also trying to destabilize the growth which India has been able to achieve in last few months. Any lockdown at this point will severely hamper the momentum which is getting built for Auto Industry to come out of the woods,” FADA said.
Further, an increase of COVID and fear amongst consumers with last year’s sight in mind has started keeping them away from making a high ticket purchase, it added.
"The effects of the same can be seen in the 2-Wheeler category where inquiry levels are low. This coupled with semiconductor shortage will continue to hamper not only Passenger Vehicles but also Two Wheelers as ABS shortage is currently ringing alarm bells," the industry body said.
Since Maharashtra contributes 10-11 percent of the auto retail, the current Lockdown will have a catastrophic effect on overall sales for the month of April, FADA noted.
Overall, FADA maintains extreme caution for April as Covid cases rise to newer highs.
