The entire nation is under lockdown since March 24 which has been taking a toll on businesses. With both sales and production being stopped, auto sales have taken serious hit recording a sales decline of 44.95 percent in March 2020 selling 10,50,367 units last month as compared to 19,08,097 units which were sold in the same month a year ago. Sales of passenger vehicles went down by 51 percent in March 2020 selling 143,861 units as compared to 2,91,861 units a year ago. Sales of passenger cars went down by 52.12 percent at 85,229 units as compared to 178,019 units while UV sales slumped by 44.67 percent at 51,569 units as compared to 93,206 units in the same month a year ago. However, it’s the Van segment that witnessed the steepest decline at 69.88 percent selling 6216 units as compared to 20,636 units in March 2019.
Two-wheelers sales too went down by 39.83 percent at 866,849 units against 14,40,593 units sold in the same month last year while three-wheeler sales went down by 58.34 percent in the same month at 27,608 units as compared to 66,274 units sold last year. Sales of commercial vehicles took the worst hit dropping by 88.05 per cent at 13,027 units as compared to 109,022 units sold in March 2019.
Speaking on the sales performance, Rajan Wadhera, President- SIAM said, “The month of March 2020 was one of the most challenging months for the Auto sector as the 21-day lockdown resulted in bringing the production and sales of vehicles to a standstill in the last week. As the revenues took a severe hit, the OEMs struggled on meeting fixed cost and working capital requirements. The industry was already reeling under severe de-growth and the pressure of disrupted supply chain, which was followed by a majority of the auto companies announcing a shutdown of their manufacturing units in the last week of March 2020, due to concerns over ensuring workplace safety & health of their employees. As per our estimates at SIAM, Auto industry is losing Rs 2,300 crore in production turnover for every day of closure.
Owing to the prolonged slowdown that had gripped the industry for the last 15 months, sales in FY2020 also remained subdued recording a decline of 17.96 percent selling 2,15,48,494 units as compared to 2,62,66,179 units sold a year ago. The PV segment witnessed a decline of 17.82 percent at 27,75,679 units as compared to 33,77,389 units. In the same period, sales of two-wheelers went down by 17.76 percent at 1,74,17,616 units as compared to 2,11,79,847 units last year while three-wheelers sales declined by 9.19 per cent at 6,36,569 units as compared to 7,01,005 units. CV sales went down by 28.75 per cent at 7,17,688 units against 10,07,311 units. Sales of quadricycles in the same month went up by 50.24 percent at 942 units as compared to 627 units sold in FY2019.