Automakers see massive drop in sales in March due to lockdown, BS-VI transition

NEW DELHI: Automobile sales across categories crashed last month, hit by weak consumer sentiment, low stock on account of transition to BS-VI emission standards and the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19.According to industry estimates, passenger vehicle sales in the local market in March halved from a year earlier to 140,000-141,000 units. While two-wheeler sales are estimated to have fallen by 45% to less than a million units, the trucks segment was the worst hit with dispatches dropping by over 70% to 25,000-30,000 units. Automakers in India report dispatches from factories, or wholesale numbers, and not retail sales to customers.The steep decline in the wholesale volume last month, on top of weak sales through the year, is estimated to have brought down the fiscal 2019-20 sales to the 2015-16 levels.Market leader Maruti Suzuki reported a 47.4% decline, selling 76,420 vehicles in the local market in March. With this, the company ended fiscal 2020 with domestic sales of 1.41 million units. At Korean rival Hyundai Motor, dispatches in India dropped 40.7% to 26,300 units in March.74940557“The sales during March 2020 are not comparable with sales in March 2019 due to the suspension of operations with effect from March 22, 2020, in line with national policy (to check the spread of the Covid-19),” Maruti Suzuki said in a statement.At Mahindra & Mahindra, volume dropped by 88% to 3,384 units last month. Chief executive (automotive division) Veejay Ram Nakra said: “Our performance in March has been muted on account of the impact of the current lockdown related to Covid-19 and the disruption in our BS-VI ramp-up plan. The latter was planned between February and March but was affected due to the challenges of parts supply from global and local suppliers.”The company said it had been able to clear its BS-IV inventory but for fewer than 100 vehicles. However, there are many vehicles that are sold, but not yet registered because of the closure of RTOs following the nationwide shutdown.Toyota Kirloskar Motor said it had held back 50% of dispatches for March just ahead of the announcement of the 21-day lockdown by the government, to lessen the burden on dealers. Toyota’s wholesale volumes last month fell 45% to 7,023 units.Toyota Kirloskar senior vice-president (sales and service) Naveen Soni said: “With the spread of the Covid-19 threat in various parts of the country followed by the 21-days national lockdown, the company’s priority was to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all its stakeholders and most importantly our dealers and their staff who are in the frontline. To bring this to immediate effect, our dealerships across the country were shut down beginning March 23 along with a temporary halt of production at our plant in Bidadi.”At Tata Motors, passenger vehicle sales last month fell 68% to 5,676 units. Kia Motors sold 8,583 units.With the resumption in supplies from China, MG Motor sold 1,518 units in March. “In February, our sales were impacted due to the disruption (in parts supplies), while the situation improved during March before the lockdown was announced; (the latter) resulted in the shutting down of our manufacturing plant,” company president Rajeev Chaba said.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2wT9Xd7