New Delhi :Factory-gate dispatches of passenger vehicles climbed 13% to 331,747 units in April from the same month last year, even as actual vehicle registrations, which reflect the number of customers buying new vehicles in a given period, modestly increased at the rate of 3.5. %, indicating a softening of demand at the beginning of the new financial year.
Inventory at dealerships is returning to normal as industry stock levels have increased from 204,000 units in early April to 251,000 vehicles currently, reflecting a divergence in wholesale and retail sales at 286,000 vehicles.
Increase in vehicle prices due to change in regulatory norms from April, which prompted advance buying in March, had an adverse impact on retail sales during the month.
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According to the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki, the inflow of inquiries for new products rose 7% in April, but the conversion into actual bookings or sales was below normal.
“Retail is slowing down a bit this month due to a number of reasons, including some pre-buying due to BS-VI Phase-II norms, and also that there were some people who booked in March but got deliveries only in April Took.” This was stated by Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki.
“There’s a mixed signal on demand because the two main factors that we track for demand are inquiries and bookings, while inquiries are up, bookings are down a bit and I think one factor, definitely, is that we have new models in our portfolio. So if we didn’t consider the impact of these two new models, the impact would probably have been more negative.”
Sales of Maruti’s mini cars including the Alto and S-Presso fell 18% to 14,110 units in April from a year ago. However, sales in the compact segment, including models such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire, grew by 27% to 74,935 units.
Maruti said its utility vehicle sales grew 8 per cent to 36,754 units in April, including the Brezza, Grand Vitara and Ertiga.
“Wholesale dispatches of passenger vehicles remained at a healthy level in April 2023, driven by a strong order book and steady demand from OEMs, even as concerns about moderation in demand due to rising cost of ownership persisted. In April 2023, domestic wholesale volumes are estimated to be ~3.4 lakh units, representing a marginal increase on a sequential basis. Even as the production levels of OEMs remain at a healthy level, they continue to be impacted by the shortage of electronic components to an extent,” said Rohan Kanwar Gupta, Vice President and Sector Head-Corporate Ratings, ICRA Ltd. .
Meanwhile, the sale of electric two-wheelers fell due to the FAME-2 subsidy issue.
Registrations of electric high-speed two-wheelers declined by 23% in April as compared to March as irregularities in OEM FAME-II subsidy claims and heavy industry probe blocked working capital and a significant slowdown in production and retail She came.
Sales in April stood at 66,410 units, while the overall two-wheeler market declined by 15% during the same period.
EV penetration in the overall two-wheeler market declined to 5.4% in April from 5.9% in March. Ola Electric sold the most electric scooters in April at nearly 22,000 units, securing nearly 34% of the market, followed by TVS Motor Company at 13%, Ampere at 12.5%, Ather Energy at 11.7% and Bajaj Auto at 6%.
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