Despite an anticipated uptick in sales during the festive season, the two-wheeler segment has seen disappointing figures, with Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj responding to a report by the Federation of Auto Dealers Association and telling CNBC-TV18 that Bajaj too had witnessed a downtick in sales.
He said that Bajaj had found sales in domestic motorcycles at -3 per cent this year compared to the last, adding that sales in the 100cc category were down by at least 30 per cent, while sales in the more premium segment witnessed growth of 28 per cent in the 125cc+ category.
Bajaj said this indicated premiumisation of the market while the 100cc market appears to be under a lot of pressure.
Earlier, FADA had released its report on two-wheeler sales in September, noting that on a yearly comparison, 2-wheelers sales had declined by 12.62 per cent, 3-wheelers by 58.86 per cent and commercial vehicles by 33.65 per cent. However, passenger vehicle sales went up for the first time since unlocking began at 9.81 per cent. Tractor registrations continued its upward journey with a magnificent 80.39 per cent growth
This, even as car makers saw over 2 lakh in sales according to an ET Auto report, with Maruti Suzuki recording its best performance in this season in five years.
Commenting on how September’20 performed, FADA President, Mr. Vinkesh Gulati said, “With the Government’s persistent effort to unlock India, the month of September continued to witness Automobile Registrations on a rise as compared to previous months.”
“Passenger Vehicles for the first time saw positive growth coming back on YoY basis. With social distancing on customer’s mind coupled with government’s push to further normalise business conditions and banks becoming more considerate to finance vehicles, entry level passenger vehicles saw good demand thus indicating a preference for personal transportation over public. New Launches and vehicle availability played their part as catalyst. A lower base during last FY also helped the cause,” he added.
Speaking on the dream run of tractor sales, he said “Kharif sowing witnessed record progress of area covered till date when compared to last year. With good Rabi season resulting in good disposable income, rural market also saw its rub off effect on 2-Wheeler, small passenger vehicles and small commercial vehicles. Overall, 2-wheeler, 3-Wheeler, and Commercial Vehicles continued to march ahead on MoM basis and inched up to narrow their gap with last year’s sale even though pre-covid levels are yet to be seen across all categories.”
