Auto sales decline for second straight month in August
Sales of passenger vehicles in the local market declined for the second straight month in August, on a high base, and with carmakers reducing dispatches to rationalise stocks at dealerships.
According to industry estimates around 350,000-355,000 cars, sedans and utility vehicles were dispatched from factories to dealerships last month, which is a decline of 1.7-3% over 361,123 vehicles sold in August 2023. Automakers in India mostly report wholesale dispatches to dealers and not retail sales to customers.
Carmakers are hopeful of healthy demand in the upcoming festive season during the Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra starting Sep 7 and Onam in Kerala from Sep 16.
In August, market leader Maruti Suzuki saw sales fall by 8.4% to 143,075 units. Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing and sales), Maruti Suzuki, said, “We calibrated our dispatches with market demand to bring down stocks at dealerships. Our inventory in the channel has now come down to 36 days (from 38 days earlier). We want to maintain this level, we do not want to bring this down further because lower stocks could impact availability of vehicles and lead to loss of sales during the festive season.”
Banerjee said the company has seen good response to its vehicles in Kerala with the start of the Chingham month in August 17. “Our bookings have gone up by 7% in Kerala. Onam this year is in September, when we expect retails to pick up. Overall, our wholesale has been in line with retails in August, which is a good sign”, Banerjee informed.
