Car sales in India got back in positive territory in 2015 with a record 2 million cars were sold in a single calendar year, according to the latest data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Association (SIAM) on Monday (11 January).
In 2015, domestic passenger car sales rose 9.8 per cent to 2,034,015 units in 2015 as against 1,852,545 units in 2014. The previous highest was 1,998,703 units in 2012.
Heavy trucks, buses, light passenger segment and scooters reported positive growth, while light trucks, three wheelers and bikes registered fall in volumes.
In medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment, trucks reported a growth of 31.39 per cent at 237,952 units when compared with 181,105 units. Bus segment’s volumes stood at 42,436 units as against 34,529 units.
Though the scooters witnessed a jump of 12.94 per cent at 4,880,117 units in 2015 in the two wheeler segment, motorcycle sales, hit by poor rural demand, fell by 3.42 per cent at 10,523,909 units.
In the three wheeler segment, both goods and passenger segments reported 5.14 per cent and 2.86 per cent fall in sales respectively
“Positive consumer sentiment, new launches and increasing disposable incomes are driving the growth in car sales. With RBI cutting repo rate by 75 bps this fiscal, lower interest rates on passenger vehicle loans helped support demand,” it said in a statement.
As for the month of December 2015, car sales rose for the 14th straight month to 172,671 units, up by 13 per cent jump over the previous year.
The cumulative passenger vehicle sales including vans and utility vehicles grew 10.46 per cent to 230,960 units, after the industry posted an almost similar 10.39 per cent growth during the festival period in the month of November.
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld
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