Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM informed, “Sales of passenger vehicles of May 2024 has been the highest ever in May again, although returning a moderate growth of 3.9%, compared to May 2023.”
Industry executives said the moderate growth in wholesale dispatches in the passenger vehicle segment was in line with expectations. Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing and sales) at Maruti Suzuki said earlier this month that he expects the “traction to come back after the poll results.” Forecasts of a good monsoon and the end of uncertainty after election results will help sales bounce back.
In the three-wheeler segment, sales surged by 14.7% to 55,763 units. This is the highest ever sales for the month of May, surpassing the previous peak of year 2018-19, Menon said.
Two-wheelers too saw healthy demand, growing by 10.1% to 1,620,084 units last month. Two-wheeler sales, however, are still lower than 2017-18 levels of the month of May.“All the segments viz. passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers have posted growth in May 2024, compared to May 2023”, Vinod Aggarwal, President, SIAM said, adding, “Passenger vehicles have only witnessed a moderate growth, primarily owing to a high base effect of the previous year. However, two wheelers and three wheelers posted growth in double digits.”Aggarwal said with expectations of above normal monsoon and continued emphasis on economic development by the new Government, the auto industry is optimistic of steady growth in 2024-25 as well.