Passenger vehicle sales rise by 11 pc in July as chip supply improves

Passenger vehicle dispatches to dealers in India rose by 11 per cent year-on-year in July 2022 helped by improvement in semiconductor supplies, as per data released by automobile manufacturing body SIAM on Friday.

Passenger vehicle wholesales rose to 2,93,865 units in July 2022 as compared to 2,64,442 units recorded in July 2021.

Passenger car dispatches rose by 10 per cent year-on-year to 1,43,522 units in July 2022 from 1,30,080 units in the same month last year.

Utility vehicle wholesales grew by 11 per cent to 1,37,104 units in July 2022 as compared to 1,24,057 units in July 2021, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Total production of passenger vehicles - three-wheelers, two-wheelers and quadricycles in April-July 2022 period rose to 8,267,268 units.

Commenting on the July 2022 sales data, Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM said "In July 2022, sales in the Passenger vehicle segment stood at 2.9 lakh units, in two-wheeler segment 13.8 lakh units and in three-wheeler segment 31 thousand units."

"Market for entry-level passenger cars, two-wheelers and three-wheelers are yet to recover. Sales of two-wheelers in July 2022 are still below July 2016 numbers and sales of three-wheelers are still below July 2006 numbers. Third hike in repo rates in a row, to rein in high inflation, will make auto loans costlier, making it more difficult for entry-level vehicles to recover," Menon said.

"SIAM would also like to whole-heartedly thank the Government of India for the recent decision to allocate a higher amount of domestic gas for the CNG segment. This would significantly bring down the input cost of gas companies. We hope that in line with the government's intent, the gas companies would pass on the entire benefit to the end consumers by reducing retail CNG prices," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )