Vehicle retail sales decline 13% in February: FADA

Tractors continued their positive momentum by growing 18.89 percent, the data showed.

Passenger vehicle waiting period continued to remain as high as 8 months as the scarcity of semiconductors continued to linger around. Dealer inventory for PV and 2W remained in the range of 10-15 and 30-35 days. 

"2W continued to see sluggish demand as the new wave of Covid in certain states kept customers away. Enquiry levels also narrowed as many educational institutions were still reluctant to open. Fuel prices are at their historic high and have put a dampener in sentiments. This in-turn has pressed the brake on the sale of entry-level price-sensitive category," said FADA President Vinkesh Gulati.

Overall CV segment continues to falter as availability of finance, negligible sales of passenger buses due to closure of educational institutes and supply side constraints kept the registrations in deep red, he added.

"LCV’s which saw good pent-up demand during last few months post unlocking has now started to fall flat. Tippers and HCV’s are in-turn showing initial signs of revival as Government’s infrastructure push has started creating its demand," Gulati said.

The industry has urged the government to intervene and solve the semiconductor issue which is hampering automobile manufacturing and sales, thus threatening post-pandemic economic recovery.

Further, the fuel consumption which had almost recovered from the lows of the pandemic is once again witnessing headwinds due to historic price hikes. This will have a negative impact on 2W and CV sales, FADA said.