Vehicle registration falls 16% in December to 1,558,756 units: FADA – Business Standard
Vehicle registrations across all categories fell 16.05 per cent year-on-year in December to 1,558,756 units, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) said on Wednesday. Two wheelers, which saw a sharp decline of 19.86 per cent, dragged the overall registration volumes, the apex body said. When compared with December 2019, the retail sales (registration) dropped 6.30 per cent y-o-y.
The dealer body remains cautious of the road ahead amid various state governments once again announcing Covid restrictions. Work and education from home have resumed and will have a negative effect for auto retail. With the fear of health care expenses rising again, the customers are shying away from closing their purchase decisions, it said.
The month of December is usually seen as a high sales month when automakers offer best discounts to clear the inventory due to change of year. It was however, not the case this time around as retail sales continued to disappoint thus wrapping up an underperforming calendar year, said Vinkesh Gulati, president, FADA said in the statement.
“With the semiconductor shortage continuing to play spoil-sport, PV sales in spite of huge bookings, in December closed in red. Dealers however saw slight ease in vehicle supply thus giving some hope of improvement,” said Gulati.
Meanwhile, scooters and motorcycles continued to underperform compared to PVs. High cost of ownership, bad rural sentiment, work- from-home and the latest threat of Omicron continued to impact sales.
The rising trend continued for medium and heavy duty trucks outperforming the light commercial vehicles. The government’s push for infrastructure spending, especially road infrastructure, better freight rates, price hike announcement in January and a low base helped the overall segment close in positive double digits, FADA said.
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