May has been a good month for the automotive industry with all vehicle categories posting double digit growth. In the process, the industry grew by almost 18% YoY to 1,808,686 units, reported SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) in its flash report for May.
Passenger vehicle sales totalled 288,369 units, up 14.86%. Though cars fell by almost 3% to 120,364 units, SUVs more than made up with 33.5% growth to 155,184 units.
The two-wheeler segment also saw sales up 17.42% to 1,471,550 units from 1,253,187 units last year. Scooters, motorcycles and mopeds grew by 12.18%, 20.63% and 1.96% respectively.
Likewise, three-wheelers surged to 48,732 units, up 70.42% with the highest growth seen in passenger carriers which grew to 38,590 units, a growth of 91.2%. Goods carriers, e-rickshaws and e-carts too saw growth of 8.32%, 81.77% and 51.5% respectively.
Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM, said two-wheeler sales were still lower than 2016-17 levels while three-wheelers were not at par with 2018-19 numbers. Vinod Aggarwal, President, SIAM, said the industry was in a transition phase with new powertrain technologies.
The bad news came from exports which dropped by 21.5% to 339,132 units. Of these, passenger vehicle shipments were down 6.4% to 53,237 units while two-/three-wheelers fell by 25.2% and 7.7%. The exception was the scooter subsegment which saw a rise in exports by 50.24% and it is in this segment that there is a serious electric play too.
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