Automobile sales sees record fall in August

New Delhi: Automobile sales in India witnessed its worst-ever drop in August with despatches in all segments, including passenger vehicles and two-wheelers, continuing to plummet as the sector reels under an unprecedented downturn, industry body SIAM reported on Monday.

This is the steepest fall in overall vehicle sales in the country since Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) started recording wholesale vehicle sales data in 1997-98.

As per data released by the industry body, vehicle sales across categories, including passenger vehicles (PVs) and two-wheelers and commercial vehicles (CVs) stood at 18,21,490 units last month as against 23,82,436 units in August 2018, a fall of 23.55 per cent.

In July, overall auto sales had witnessed its sharpest decline in nearly 19 years, dropping 18.71 per cent to 18,25,148 units last month as against 22,45,223 units in July 2018.

Similarly, domestic PV sales saw its worst-ever fall in August, slumping by 31.57 per cent to 1,96,524 units from 2,87,198 units in the year-ago period.

Previously, the worst decline in the segment was registered in July this year when wholesales had fallen 30.98 per cent to 2,00,790 units. The fall in PV sales in August was also the tenth consecutive month of decline.