Passenger vehicle sales downtrend continues in January

The passenger vehicle sales downtrend continued in January as high-interest cost and financing constraints dented demand. According to SIAM data, sales of passenger vehicles in the domestic market declined by 1.87 per cent on a year-on-year basis in January to 280,125 units.

According to the data released on Friday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic sales of passenger vehicles in 2018 stood at 285,467 units, the data said. Among the sub-segments of passenger vehicles, sale of passenger cars in the domestic market during the month was 179,389 units, 2.65 per cent lower than what was sold in the year-ago period.

Further, the number of utility vehicles sold in India declined by 3.57 per cent to 82,772 units in January 2019, while 17,964 vans were sold last month, up 16.93 per cent from 2018. In the commercial vehicle segment, domestic sales rose by 2.21 per cent to 87,591 units last month, the SIAM data showed.

(With inputs from agencies.)