New Delhi: Automobile registrations across the country rose by 14 per cent last month as compared to August last year with commercial vehicles showing 98 per cent hike, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) said on Tuesday.

However, FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said auto dealers are facing the most challenging phase of their business career as Covid-19 after-effect continues to play spoil-sport.
“While until last year when demand was a challenge, supply is becoming a bigger problem currently due to shortage of semi-conductors even though there is high demand for passenger vehicles,” he said.

August continued to see robust recovery in auto retails as demand across all categories remained high after states eased Covid-led lockdowns. The low base effect also continued to play its part.

Data released by FADA showed three-wheeler registrations were up by 79.7 per cent with 30,410 registrations in August 2021 compared to 16,923 in August 2020.

Commercial vehicles witnessed an upswing of 97.94 per cent to 53,150 registrations versus 26,851 in same period.

Passenger vehicle registrations edged higher by 38.71 per cent to 2.53 lakh from 1.82 lakh in the year-ago period.

Two-wheeler registrations totalled 9.76 lakh last month compared to 9.15 lakh in August last year, marking an upturn of 6.66 per cent.

Tractor registrations rose by 5.5 per cent to 71,737 last month compared to 67,999 in August 2020.

That took overall vehicle registrations to 13.84 lakh in August 2021, up 14.48 per cent from 12.09 lakh in August 2020.

“Every dealer by now starts planning for a bigger offtake in anticipation of a bumper festive but due to supply issues, inventory levels are at lowest levels during this financial year,” said Gulati.

“The commercial vehicle segment continues to witness some recovery coming back majorly due to low base of last year,” he said.

Gulati said the two-wheeler market is highly price sensitive. With multiple price hikes, increased fuel cost coupled with educational Institutions remaining closed, the impact could be felt on the overall segment.

“Customers continue to fight financial battle due to Covid-related health issues and hence remain away from dealerships, resulting in low enquiry and lower sales. This has its impact on the entry level segment which continues to face the biggest brunt.”

With OEMs drastically cutting down productions due to unavailability of semi-conductors and ABS chips, shortage of containers and high metal prices, customers for the first time may not get a vehicle of their choice and lucrative schemes during this festive season. Ultra-frequent price increases are also keeping entry-level buyers at bay, said Gulati.

FADA India represents over 15,000 automobile dealers having 25,000 dealerships including 30 associations of automobile dealers at the regional, state and city levels accounting for 90 per cent of market share.