Passenger Vehicle Sales See Worst Ever Monthly Drop Since 1997-98

India's monthly passenger vehicle and car sales recorded their steepest fall ever in August, according to data released by a top industry body on Monday, underscoring the unprecedented slowdown in the sector. Last month, the sector recorded the worst decline since 1997-98, data put out by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed. The percentage sale of two-wheelers is at a three-year low. Overall passenger car sales dropped by a significant 31.57 per cent last month with 196,524 units sold compared to 287,198 units in August 2018.

The biggest hit was taken by the passenger car sales, which declined by a massive 41.09 per cent; 115,957 cars were sold in August this year compared to 196,847 sold in the same month last year.

Also Read: Flailing Auto Sales In August 2019 Worrisome: SIAM

Utility vehicles sales saw a smaller decline of just 2.2 per cent, with 71,478 units sold compared to 73,085 in August last year. The van segment, on the other hand, saw a massive drop of 47.36 per cent; 9,089 units were sold last month compared to 17,266 units sold exactly a year ago.

Two-wheeler sales too saw a steep decline of 22.24 per cent with 1,514,196 sold in August 2019 compared to 1,947,304 sold in August 2018. Scooters, motorcycles and mopeds saw a decline of 22 per cent, 22 per cent and 21 per cent. Medium and heavy commercial vehicles too saw a massive decline of 54.3 per cent with 15,573 units sold last month as compared to 34,073 units sold in August 2018. Light commercial vehicles saw a decline of 28.21 per cent with 36,324 units sold compared to 50,595 units in August 2018.

Also Read: Auto Sales See 31 Per Cent Decline In July 2019

To sum it up, the Indian auto inc sold 9,732,040 units of vehicles in August 2019 compared to 11,570,401 units in August 2018, which is a decline of 15.89 per cent. It may not look like much but when you dig deeper, the rot is all the more evident and a segment-by-segment analysis reveals that almost every vehicle segment in India is taking a massive hit as far as sales are is concerned.

The data once again paints a bleak picture of an industry that was once a shining example of 'Make-In-India'.