Passenger vehicle sales increased by 8.4 per cent on year in the financial year (April-March) 2023-24, as per the latest data by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). While it is a significant increase, it is far behind when compared to the increase in three-wheeler sales of 41.5 per cent and two-wheeler sales of 13.3 per cent. 

According to SIAM, total vehicle sales, including all the categories, increased 12.5 per cent to 2,38,53,463 units in the period under review from 2,12,04,846 in 2022-23. 

Passenger vehicle sales increased to 42,18,746 as compared to the previous year’s figure of 38,90,114 in the financial year 2023-24. Three-wheeler sales increased to 6,91,749 units from 4,88,768 units in the year-ago period. 

Two-wheeler sales spiked to 1,79,74,365 in the period under review, as compared to  1,58,62,771 in the year-ago period. 

Commercial vehicles saw a slight increase of 0.6 per cent to 9,67,878 units from  9,62,468 units in 2022-23. 

However, overall exports of vehicles dipped 5.5 per cent, with all categories witnessing a decrease, with the exception of passenger vehicles. PV exports increased 1.4 per cent from the previous year, but commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers exports dropped 16.3 per cent, 17.9 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively. 

In the month of March, PV sales went up 8.9 per cent, three-wheelers 4.3 per cent, and two-wheelers 15.3 per cent, with the overall sales of these three categories going up 13.8 per cent. 

Meanwhile, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), auto sales grew 3.14 per cent on-year in the month of March, with two-wheeler and three-wheeler segments growing 5 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. PV sales witnessed a downturn of 2 per cent on-month in March and 6 per cent on-year sales decline.