Passenger vehicle sales crash 18% in June... car sales fall 25%

New Delhi: Domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales declined by 17.54 per cent to 2,25,732 units in June from 2,73,748 units in the year-ago period.

Domestic car sales were down 24.97 per cent to 1,39,628 units as against 1,83,885 units in June 2018, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Wednesday.

Motorcycle sales last month declined 9.57 per cent to 10,84,598 units as against 11,99,332 units a year earlier.

Total two-wheeler sales in June declined 11.69 per cent to 16,49,477 units compared to 18,67,884 units in the year-ago month.

Sales of commercial vehicles were down 12.27 per cent to 70,771 units in June against 80,670 units in the same period a year ago, SIAM said.

Vehicle sales across categories registered a decline of 12.34 per cent to 19,97,952 units from 22,79,186 units in June 2018, it added.

In fact, all vehicle categories witnessed decline in sales during the month.

In the April-June period PV sales declined 18.42 per cent to 7,12,620 units compared with 8,73,490 units in the year-ago period.

Vehicle sales across all categories declined by 12.35 per cent to 60,85,406 units in the April-June period against 69,42,742 units in same period of last year.

Auto stocks fell up to 3 per cent Wednesday after SIAM data showed that domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales declined for the eighth consecutive month in June.

Shares of Tata Motors fell 2.79 per cent, Bharat Forge declined 2.41 per cent, TVS Motor Company fell 2.12 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra ended down 1.77 per cent and Hero MotoCorp fell 1.68 per cent on the BSE.

Scrip of Bajaj Auto fell 1.54 per cent, Eicher Motors declined 1.39 per cent, while Maruti Suzuki India ended down 0.31 per cent.

Led by losses in these scrips, the BSE auto index fell 1.07 per cent to close at 16,948.23.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors Wednesday said its British arm Jaguar Land Rover's sales were down 9.6 per cent to 47,060 units in June this year.

Sales of Jaguar brand were at 14,933 units during the month, down 8.5 per cent from the same month last, Tata Motors said in a regulatory filing.

Land Rover sales were at 32,127 units, down 10.1 per cent from the same month last year, it added.

Retail sales in the UK were up 4.6 per cent but down in other regions, including North America (-9 per cent), Europe (-11.7 per cent), China (-12.3 per cent) and in other overseas markets (-18.6 per cent), reflecting generally weaker industry conditions, the company said.

Retail sales of the all-electric I-PACE and the new Range Rover Evoque grew, while other models were impacted by the weaker general market conditions, it added.