FADA Data reveals Festive Boost: Auto Sales Soar 19% to record 3.79 Million units
Delhi : The holiday season has finally given the nation's car manufacturers and dealers hope after sending contradictory signals for the previous several quarters. Between the first day of Navratri and the fifteen days after Durga Puja, there was a 42-day period during which sales of autos, ranging from two- and three-wheelers to passenger cars, reached unprecedented heights. But the car sellers are still wary since a long-term recovery is still a little off.
Data from industry body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) shows that during this festive season, automobile sales jumped by a healthy 19% to a record 3,793,584 units. In comparison, the country's auto dealers sold 3,195,213 units during the same period in 2022. Passenger vehicle (PV) sales increased 10.3% year over year to 547,246 units in 2023 from 496,047 units in the previous year. In actuality, it was the first occasion that PV sales in India over the holiday season exceeded 500,000 units. In contrast, sales of three-wheelers increased 41.4% to 142,875 units.
The two-wheeler market was the one that contributed most to the total increase in dealer car sales figures. Since the COVID-19 epidemic affected household earnings and caused economic disruption, particularly among lower socioeconomic strata, two-wheeler sales have been negatively impacted. However, two-wheeler sales increased by about 21% in 2023 to reach a record high of 2,893,107 units, surpassing the 2,396,665 units sold during the previous holiday season. The FADA President, Manish Raj Singhania, stated that the increase in two-wheeler sales contributed to the total figures because they make up the greatest portion of all automotive sales in the nation, accounting for over 76% of them.
Singhania claims that although the return of rural customers to the market may have contributed to a spike in two-wheeler sales, the holiday sales cannot be seen as a sign of a general improvement in the hinterlands. It would be prudent to wait a few more months before drawing any conclusions on a rebound in demand in the rural market, he argues, because customers have a tendency to buy products that are beyond their means during that time. Singhania states, "I would rather wait another four to five months to be sure that sales have in fact bounced back in the rural areas."
