According to media reports, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on October 14 shows that due to a cooling demand for larger vehicles, wholesale sales of Indian automakers to dealers in the July-September period saw their first decline in ten quarters.
SIAM's data revealed that wholesale sales of Indian automakers to dealers in the third quarter of this year (July, August, and September) fell by 1.8% year-on-year, reaching approximately 1.06 million units.
Data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) indicates that although automakers' sales to dealers decreased in Q3, the decline in retail sales from dealers to consumers during the same period was more significant, dropping by 4.5%.
Automakers and dealers attribute the sales decline primarily to the higher-than-usual rainfall in India in June and July this year. Additionally, festival-related factors also affected sales.
SIAM President Shailesh Chandra stated: "Heavy rainfall in major states indeed impacted sales figures in certain segments."
Among the various market segments, the growth rate of utility vehicles, including SUVs, significantly slowed, dropping from 23.5% year-on-year last year to 9% in this quarter.
For the past three years, SUV sales have been driving the growth of the entire Indian automobile industry, accounting for about two-thirds of total sales. This has benefited companies like Mahindra and Toyota.
While SUV sales have slowed, small car sales also fell by nearly 20%, negatively impacting market leaders like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, and the soon-to-be-listed Hyundai India.
However, Chandra expects that with the help of festival demand, India's automobile sales will return to growth in the October-December period.
