Heat waves, high base take toll on car sales in May

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Car dispatches to dealers rose moderately in May, as India's automobile market enters a period of seasonally slow sales. During the month, wholesale shipments grew a modest 4.4% to cross 350,000 from a year earlier, data released by manufacturers showed. As intense heat waves in May kept potential buyers at home and the nation got busy with the general election, retail sales fell from April, but were flat from a year earlier.

The moderation is somewhat expected, coming after two consecutive years of record sales in FY24 and FY23. “This year, the growth in (passenger vehicle sales) will not be very high. There will be a single-digit growth only, because the base effect has come in.

And the second is that the elections and the scorching heat have impacted overall sales in May," said Partho Banerjee, executive director, sales and marketing, Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker. Also read: Slashed subsidies to cause e-two-wheeler sales to ebb Meanwhile, electric two-wheeler registrations plunged 27% from a year earlier to 76,808 units, as last May had seen heavy pre-buying ahead of a planned reduction in subsidies from 1 June. However, e-two-wheeler registrations were nearly 18% higher in May compared to April, as sales in April once again took a hit due to the government's decision to further slash EV subsidies under its new Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS).

The overall two-wheeler segment saw a 4.5% annual increase in registrations in May. TVS Motor Co. reported a 7% pick-up in domestic dispatches, while Hero MotoCorp, the country's largest two-wheeler maker, saw an over 5% drop in domestic wholesales to 4.9 lakh units.