The muted expectation of dealers come at a time when vehicle manufacturers such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor, Mahindra & Mahindra and others reported a double-digit fall in wholesale dispatches to dealerships in July and August.
83% of the CEOS plan to hire more in the new year.
China has zoomed past the United States as the world's biggest auto maker and market with sales exceeding 13.64 million units last year, an industry association said in Beijing on Monday.
The first leg of the 35-day festive period, which ended with Dussehra, failed to bring any cheer for auto companies. While makers of passenger vehicles struggled to meet demand due to the persistent shortage of semiconductors, a recovery in demand remained elusive for two-wheeler manufacturers despite offers and schemes. The overall season, which ends two days after Diwali, is unlikely to bring any turnaround in either the supply or the demand scenario, said dealers and officials at auto companies.
Factors like high fuel prices, higher insurance cost and firm interest rates kept buyers away, especially in case of passenger vehicles.
Retail sales of passenger vehicles - the largest component of the pie - jumped 11 per cent year-on-year in October to 248,036 units, largely because of discounts offered during Navratri and Diwali.
Automobile dealers' body FADA on Monday said passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales in October witnessed a year-on-year decline of 8.8 per cent to 2,49,860 units, as registrations slowed down owing to supply issues. According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), which collected vehicle registration data from 1,257 out of the 1,464 regional transport offices (RTOs), PV sales stood at 2,73,980 units in October 2019. Two-wheeler sales declined 26.82 per cent to 10,41,682 units last month, as compared to 14,23,394 units in October 2019.
Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycles, Scooters India, TVS, Honda India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Ford, Nissan, Ashok Leyland are all giving the Auto Expo a miss this time.
Liquidity continues to be a worry for both, customers and dealers, with the latter facing working capital issues.
Recently, South Korean Foreign Minister, Chung Eui-yong, dialled his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar, in New Delhi. His government, he said, "regretted the offence caused to the people of India". A day earlier, India had summoned the South Korean ambassador to express its "strong displeasure" over "an unacceptable social media post".
While commercial vehicle (CV) sales were the worst hit, down by 21 per cent to 67,793 units from 85,833 units, two-wheeler sales dropped by 16 per cent to 12,64,169 units from 15,00,545 units. Passenger car sales dropped nine per cent to 215,716 units from 236,586 units.
Tata Motors, India's third largest passenger vehicle maker, took pole position in the competitive sport utility vehicle (SUV) market in October, reveals the data from industry sources. Riding high on the Punch - the sub-compact SUV offering launched on October 18 - the Tata group flagship sold a record 23,381 units in October, higher than 20,022 units sold by archrival Mahindra & Mahindra, 18,538 units sold by Hyundai Motor India, and 15,931 units sold by Kia Motors India. Utility vehicles - that include SUVs and multipurpose vehicles - accounted for almost one in every two passenger vehicles sold in India in the first seven months of the current financial year, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
With entry-level cars being preferred amid the pandemic, market leader Maruti Suzuki has strengthened its hold, along with Hyundai Motor India.
For automakers, the festive season is about raking it in through ramped up sales and attractive consumer offers. However, despite the robust demand, what may spoil the party this year is a global shortage of semiconductors.
A nationwide and compulsory switch to BS-VI is due from April 1, 2020. Amid increase in input and other costs, companies had decided to increase the price of their vehicles from January 2020. This is expected to push sales of passenger vehicles by 2 to 4 per cent in December; reportedly, bookings are in that range.
Tyre companies are stepping up on exports to offset declining volumes from domestic OEMs.
The government hopes that the PLI schemes would provide 200,000-300,000 direct employment over five years, according to sources in the know.
The optimism stems from benign fuel prices, adequate and well distributed rainfall and the recent measures announced by the government to boost liquidity at banks and NBFCs.
First off the block will be a new multi-purpose vehicle which is being co-developed with Toyota - Suzuki's alliance partner. The model will also wear a Toyota badge.
Dealer despatches will probably be a good signal of economic turnaround or further deterioration, says Devangshu Datta.
Owing to the poor market conditions and tepid sentiments, the size of the show has shrunk compared to the last edition, which took place in 2018. A majority of the two-wheeler makers, and several car and commercial vehicle makers, have opted out of this year's show, which opens for the media on Wednesday.
The auto component industry caters to automobile industry through a whole gamut of auto parts such as engine parts, body & chassis, electrical parts, drive transmission & steering parts, braking, suspension etc.
Higher exports will also drive up volumes, as the company seeks to avail of the benefits under the government's recently announced production linked incentive scheme.
Durable, automobile and real estate players have been lobbying hard for a tax cut, saying it will boost demand.
After a very weak December quarter and a poor year-to-date fiscal year volumes-when sales plunged to the lowest in nine years, the signs in the first 15 days of January haven't been encouraging either. "Though the severity of the current wave is not as high as the previous one, it has hit the sentiments hard impacting conversion of enquiries into sales," said Vinkesh Gulati, president, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA).
Indian auto industry's dependence on China is high and it will continue to be so in the BS-VI era and as the country moves towards electric mobility. Domestic players lack both technological competence and the sheer pricing advantage that support Chinese imports.
India on Sunday announced temporary suspension of e-visa facility for Chinese travellers and foreigners residing in the neighbouring country and issued a fresh advisory saying anyone with travel history to China since January 15 can be quarantined.
The auto ancillary industry - one of the worst hit due to the labour exodus - will need at least three months to get its factories up and running.
'The August phenomenon of decline in sales occurs every year.' 'What they have done cleverly is, using the economic slowdown as an excuse, they want a package from the government to compensate the expenditure they will incur while converting BS4 to BS6.' 'That's why they are making a hue and cry.'
For Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), which has just started executing a comeback strategy for wresting back ground it lost to rivals, this could not have come at a worse time. The maker of the Bolero Neo and the Thar models on Thursday said it would have to halt production at its automotive plant for a week due to the worsening supply situation of semiconductors.
During the meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the auto industry broadly presented factors such as issues regarding availability and affordability of financing, increasing cost of acquisition of vehicles and change in axle load capacity for commercial vehicles that have hurt demand.
Red Bull's 23-year-old German Sebastian Vettel also finally got his hands on the championship winner's trophy at the same International Automobile Federation (FIA) awards ceremony in Monaco on Friday night.
Increasing the duties on auto parts and putting an additional cess on petrol and diesel could drive up costs of vehicles, specially where volumes are low and localisation is not viable.
The FIA expected its investigation to take six to eight weeks. It will look at all safety devices, how the safety barrier performed and the role of track marshals and medical intervention team.
The total vehicle registrations in India fell by 29.85 per cent to 1,52,71,519 units in financial year 2020-21, the lowest in the last eight years, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) said on Monday. Total vehicle registrations were at 2,17,68,502 units in fiscal year 2019-20. All categories of vehicles, except tractors were in red in FY21 with two-wheeler (2W), three-wheeler (3W), commercial vehicles (CV) and passenger vehicles (PV) falling by 31.51 per cent, 64.12 per cent, 49.05 per cent and 13.96 per cent respectively -- the lowest in last eight years and way below the FY13 levels, FADA said in a statement.
Consumers will get a list of dealers in their neighbourhood once they have made a selection of vehicles.
Fiat India Automobiles Pvt Ltd (FIAPL), the three-year-old joint venture company formed through the association of Tata Motors and Fiat Auto SpA, is facing rough weather, as it posted record losses last year.
