The Automobile Industry performance was unsatisfactory in both Production and Sales in July 2005. The period April to July 2005 witnessed overall Industry growth of 10.63% over same period last year. Both Passenger Vehicles and Two Wheelers have registered a negative growth in July 2005 compared to July 2004. Commercial Vehicles and Three Wheelers however registered a positive growth.

Domestic Sales

During the period April-July 2005 Passenger Cars grew only by 2.96%, where as Utility Vehicles grew by 13.28% over the same period last year.

It was noticed that majority of companies in the Passenger Car segments registered a fall in Sales in July 2005 compared to July 2004. One needs to understand whether this trend will continue or this is a temporary phenomena, because of the twin factor working in this market since April 2005, namely introduction of VAT and implementation of new emission norms.

Commercial Vehicles segment however remained more or less stagnant at 2% growth and we hope there will be higher growth in the months to come. Normally the second half of the year is always better.

In April-July 2005 the Two Wheeler segment as a whole grew by 12.17% compared to the same period last year, mainly because of drop in the supply of Scooters in July 2005. With solution to the labour problems, we expect this segment to grow at a faster rate in the coming months.

Exports

With 28.47% growth in overall export numbers (April – July 2005) the Industry remained upbeat of positive growth throughout the year. The Commercial Vehicle export increased by 49%, Passenger Vehicle export grew by 16%, Two Wheelers exports registered a growth of 37.66% over the same period last year.

Source & Courtesy : SIAM

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