10.8.21

Motown: Auto Retail Sales Surge 34% in July


Retail sales of vehicles have recovered as the Covid-19 second wave and associated lockdowns recede across the country, registration data for July showed.

Vehicle registrations with regional transport offices, which are a proxy for retail sales, improved 34% year-on-year in July, albeit on a low base from July last year due to the impact of the first Covid-19 wave and resultant lockdowns. However, compared to July 2019 - a relatively normal month of sales - registrations were down 13%, indicating that there was still some lost ground to cover for the auto industry before it reaches pre-pandemic levels.

“With the entire country now open, July continues to see a robust recovery in auto retail as demand across all categories remains high. The low base effect also continues to play its part,” said Vinkesh Gulati, president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations.

FADA put together the registration data from the ministry of road transport and highways’ Vahan dashboard. The data is incomplete as only 1,305 out of 1,519 RTOs in the country are on the VAHAN platform, but they paint an accurate picture in terms of trends.

While sales improved across categories compared to July 2020, sales of tractors and passenger vehicles, or cars, rose compared to even the pre-pandemic base of 2019.

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