India: Passenger vehicles reach 3 million mark
Passenger vehicle segment saw a 9.23% growth by managing to sell 30,46,727 units in FY 2017-18. It looks like the effect of demonetization on auto-majors was minimal and, although, sales saw a dip in the last lap it was not enough to dampen the spirits. Here are the numbers and milestones crossed by the Indian automobile sector.
Smooth sailing on the bumpy Indian road
Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures data says that domestic-vehicles sales revved up 8.17% with 1,90,065 registered units getting sold compared to 1,75,709 units that were recorded in March last year. The growth was managed by piggy-backing on the sales of utility vehicles, which saw a 29.91% growth and sold 7,61,997 units compared to 5,86,576 units last year, leaving demand for sedans and hatchbacks behind.
The top sellers in the domestic passenger vehicles segment
Maruti Suzuki retained its top position in the category by showing a growth of 10.59% and by selling 14,43,641 units. Hyundai Motors came second by clocking a growth of 5.24% and by selling 5,09,705 units. Mahindra & Mahinda saw a dip of 0.07% but still managed to grab the third position and sold 2,36,130 units.
Two-wheeler sales braved on despite BS-III roadblock
FY 2017-18 recorded a modest growth of 6.89% by recording a sale of 1,75,89,511 units compared to 1,64,55,851 units it had managed last year. Motorcycles sales showed a growth of 3.68% and sold 1,10,94,543 units compared to 1,07,00,406 units it managed in the last year. This tepid-growth would be attributed to the government's BS-IV policy, which left the industry a little under the weather.
Report card of two-wheeler industry majors
Hero MotoCorp led the pack by selling 56,93,681 units marking a small jump of 1.62% from the last year when it had sold 56,03,136 units. Bajaj Auto fared slightly better and went from 18,98,957 in 2015-16 to 20,01,391 units, showing a 5.39% rise. HMSI managed to sell 15,36,055 units, marking a bump of 2.8% compared to 2015-16 where it had sold 14,94,153 units.
Revised emission norms
BS-IV stands for 'Bharat Stage' and IV is the numerical representation of the particular stage that the emission norms are at present. As and when, more stringent rules will come into effect, the number becomes higher.
