Sale of passenger vehicles down 1.11% in February

New Delhi, March 8 (IANS) Sales of passenger vehicles declined in February as high interest cost and financing constraints dented demand.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), sales in the domestic market dropped by 1.11 per cent on a year-on-year basis in February to 272,284 units.

Domestic sales of passenger vehicles in 2018 stood at 275,346, the data said.

Among the sub-segments of passenger vehicles, sale of passenger cars in the domestic market during the month was 171,372 units -- 4.33 per cent lower than what was sold in the year-ago period.

However, the number of utility vehicles sold in India went up by 3.70 per cent to 83,245 units in February 2019, while 17,667 vans were sold last month, up 10.74 per cent from 2018.

In the commercial vehicle segment, domestic sales slipped by 0.43 per cent to 87,436 units last month, SIAM said.

Similarly, the data pointed out that three-wheelers' sales decelerated. The segment's off-take went down by 4.14 per cent to 59,875 units during the month.

In addition, overall sales of two-wheelers, which include scooters, motorcycles and mopeds, edged-lower by 4.22 per cent to 1,615,071 units.

As per the data, total sales of the Indian automobile sector declined by 3.65 per cent during February 2019 to 2,034,768 units across segments and categories.

However, the overall exports of vehicles across categories was higher by 4.16 per cent to 373,991 units.