Passenger vehicle sales zoom past record 30L mark in 2017

Passenger vehicle sales in India crossed 30 lakh mark for the first time in 2017, growing at a five-year high of 8.85% on the back of robust demand for utility vehicles.

According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), passenger vehicle sales in 2017 stood at 32,29,109 units against 29,66,603 units in 2016, a growth of 8.85%. With sales remaining in the positive territory during the first three quarters of the current fiscal, SIAM has pegged the segment to grow by 9% against a previous forecast of 7-9% in 2017-18.

In 2017 year, although car remained the mainstay of the PV segment growing by 5.13% at 21,68,151 units against 20,62,357 units in 2016, it was the growth of utility vehicles (UV) that stood out last year. UV sales stood at 8,70,060 units in 2017 against 7,24,522 units in 2016, up 20.09%.

Besides, a record 1,91,76,905 two-wheelers were sold last year, up 8.43% from 1,76,86,685 units sold in 2016.

"In 2017, for the first time more than 3.2 million passenger vehicles were sold in the domestic market. Last year also saw record sales of 19 million two wheelers," SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen told reporters here.

In terms of growth rate, PV sales in 2017 was the fastest since 2012 when it rose by 9.77%.

SIAM said vehicle sales across categories, including CVs and two-wheelers, grew by 8.39% to 2,37,39,780 units in 2017 compared with 2,19,01,703 units in 2016.

In December, passenger vehicle sales rose 5.22% to 2,39,712 units from 2,27,823 units in December 2016.

Domestic car sales, however, declined marginally to 1,58,326 units against 1,58,617 units in December 2016.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki India posted a growth of 11.44% at 1,18,560 units, while rival Hyundai Motor India was up marginally at 40,158.

Mahindra & Mahindra saw sales drop by 6.99% at 15,531 units. Homegrown rival Tata Motors saw a growth of 33.94% at 16,089 units in December 2017.

Total two-wheeler sales in December rose 41.45% to 12,87,592 units compared  with  9,10,276 units in the year-ago month.

Motorcycle sales last month rose 40.31% to 7,88,156 units against 5,61,710 units a year earlier.

Market leader Hero MotoCorp posted domestic sales of 3,98,816 units   against 2,79,448 units in the year-ago month, up 42.71%.

Rival Bajaj Auto saw its bike sales rise 5.87% to 1,12,930 units against 1,06,665 units in the same month last year. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) saw its sales rise by 133% to 1,24,425 units against 53,400 units in December 2016.

In the scooters segment, total sales last month were at 4,32,429 units against 2,84,405 units in December 2016, up 52.05%.