The passenger vehicle dispatches to dealers rose by 11 percent to 2,93,865 units in July as semiconductor supply issues eased, resulting in companies ramping up production ahead festivals, the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed. The passenger vehicle dispatches stood at 2,64,442 units in the same month last year.
According to SIAM, the passenger car dispatches rose 10 percent to 1,43,522 units last month while utility vehicle dispatches went up by 11 percent to 1,37,104 units. Van dispatches rose to 13,239 units from 10,305 units in the same month last year.
The total two-wheeler dispatches are up 10 percent to 13,81,303 units as compared to 12,60,140 units last year. Among two-wheelers, scooter wholesales climbed to 4,79,159 units against 3,73,695 units and motorcycle wholesales increased to 8,70,028 units compared to 8,37,166 units during July 2021.
Three-wheeler dispatches also increased sharply to 31,324 units from 18,132 units a year earlier.
It is to be noted that these are numbers of dispatches to dealers by companies and not the final sales to customers.
The total production of passenger vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers and
quadricycles last month was 2,197,954 units.
According to Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM, market for entry level passenger cars, two-wheelers and three-wheelers are yet to recover. Sales of two-wheelers last month were still below July 2016 numbers and sales of three-wheelers were still below July 2006 numbers.
"Third hike in a repo-rates in a row, to rein in high inflation, will make Auto loans costlier, making it more difficult for entry level vehicles to recover," he said.
On the government's decision to allocate a higher amount of domestic gas for the CNG segment, he said, "This would significantly bring down the input cost of gas companies. We hope that in line with the Government's intent, the gas companies would pass on the entire benefit to the end consumers by reducing retail CNG prices."
