Published on October 16, 2024. EST READ TIME: 2 minutes
Automobile companies forecast lower sales in the coming festive season after three years of blockbuster business. Companies have now slashed wholesales to dealerships as buyers have become cautious and are not willing to spend freely, despite steep discounts. The car industry has enjoyed a house-full at dealerships since the economy started to open up around 2021 after Covid.
Now car companies are facing a difficult period after a long time as hefty discounts have come back with a slowdown and even the festive period has failed to bring in large volumes. As per the latest data by Siam, wholesale figures released show that dispatches of passenger vehicles went down 2% for Q2 (July-Sept) FY25, which is surprising as companies start building up pre-festive inventory during this period. Against 10.7 lakh units sold to dealerships in the second quarter of FY24, the numbers this time stand at 10.5 lakh units.
Shailesh Chandra, president of Siam and MD for passenger vehicles and electric mobility at Tata Motors, states to TOI that the industry may grow by a low single-digit this year. "The first half for the passenger vehicle industry been flat and even if we grow by over 5% in the second, we will end up at sub-5% for the full year," Chandra said. Siam had given a growth forecast between 5-8% for the industry at the beginning of this fiscal. The past few months have seen top automobile manufacturers balance inventory levels to the market's new reality.