Domestic car wholesales fall 2-3% in Aug amid high dealer stock, low demand | Auto
According to FADA, its members are holding around 730,000 units – enough to cover over two months of sales. SIAM, on the other hand, says that the stock with dealers is about 400,000 units.
The domestic passenger vehicle (PV) wholesales dropped by 2-3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to about 355,000 units in August due to low demand and companies reducing production to ease pressure on dealers holding high unsold inventory.
This is the second consecutive month that PV wholesales have dropped due to low demand and high dealer stock. In July, PV sales were down 2.5 per cent Y-o-Y to 341,510 units.
Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer for marketing and sales at Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), said the company reduced its dispatches to dealers by about 13,000 units in August. The wholesales of MSIL, India’s largest carmaker, stood at 143,075 units, a drop of 8.4 per cent Y-o-Y.
He said MSIL’s dealers at the beginning of August held stock to cover sales for up to 38 days. This has been reduced to 36 days now. “We are seeing that our channel partners (dealers) have a reasonably healthy stock to sell the vehicles. We are continuously trying to bring the stocks down,” Banerjee added.
“Since the festival season is now coming, it is not prudent to reduce the dealer stock any further. Our dealers have an average 36 days of stock now, which is okay. As Navratri is going to start from the beginning of October, we do not have the intention to further correct our dealer stock, as it could lead to a loss of sales,” he noted.
He said it is difficult to give exact wholesale numbers for the entire PV industry on a Sunday. However, he added: “We feel the domestic wholesales of the PV industry should be around 350,000-355,000 units.” In August 2023, the domestic wholesales stood at about 361,000 units.
As car demand slows in India, dealer stock levels across the entire industry have surged to alarming heights. The situation is so critical that the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has written two letters to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in the past few months to resolve this matter.
According to FADA, its members are holding around 730,000 units – enough to cover over two months of sales. SIAM, on the other hand, says that the stock with dealers is about 400,000 units.
Hyundai, India’s second-largest carmaker, recorded a decrease of 8 per cent Y-o-Y in domestic wholesales at 49,525 units. Tarun Garg, chief operating officer, Hyundai Motor India, expressed hope the updated Alcazar sport utility vehicle (SUV), which will soon be launched, will help the company drive a “strong festive season” growth. SUVs continue to remain popular among customers, with their share in the industry’s PV sales at 54.9 per cent in August.
First Published: Sep 01 2024 | 7:48 PM IST
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