Declining for the ninth straight quarter, passenger vehicle sales in India plunged 78.43 per cent in the April-June period this year hit by the coronavirus pandemic, making it the longest slowdown in 20 years, auto industry body SIAM said on Tuesday.
The commercial vehicles segment also saw a decline of 84.81 per cent in sales during the period, the fifth quarter in succession of decline, which is also the longest period of slowdown the segment has witnessed in the last 15 years, according to the latest data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
Passenger vehicle (PV) sales were at 1,53,734 units in April-June 2020 as compared to 7,12,684 units in April-June 2019.
In the past 20 years, the previous longest streak of decline of five quarters in PV sales was witnessed between 2013-14 and 2014-15 and between 2000-01 and 2001-02.
Similarly, commercial vehicles sales stood at 31,636 units in the period as against 2,08,310 units in April-June 2019. The previous longest period of decline in CV was witnessed for eight quarters between 2013-14 and 2014-15, SIAM said. “Currently, we are going through a very difficult phase due to coronavirus… We have been suffering hugely on the demand side since last year; but this quarter, the degrowth is due to COVID-19. It is going to be very harsh on the auto sector,” SIAM President RajanWadhera told reporters in a video conference.