Indian Auto Industry Declines 5 Percent During Q1: SIAM

SUVs may be enjoying a bull run, but even then the overall Passenger Vehicle (PV) market failed to grow in the April - June quarter. The story remains the same for all other vehicle segments, except three-wheelers, which remained flat during the same period.

Shailesh Chandra, President, SIAM, noted that there has been a general slowdown across categories, but there are nuances for subsegments. "Broadly, the decline [in bike sales] is related to corrections in stock by manufacturers, but demand remains positive even if not as strong", he said. He also added that rural demand will be strong because of a favourable monsoon season and easily accessible financing options. With passenger vehicles, there is a trend towards premiumisation and while the entry-level segment is facing problems, that issue isn't seen with SUVs or more expensive vehicles. "In general, the repo rate reduction will help in boosting confidence in the less than ₹10 lakh category", he added.

All segments except three-wheelers saw a decline during April - June ‘25 

The PV segment clocked 10,11,882 units during Q1, a 1.4 percent YoY drop. The sub-segment of Utility Vehicles, in which SUVs fall, saw 3.6 percent growth though with sales of 6,70,256 units during this period. "There is definitely a structural shift towards UVs... this will continue to happen, launches will be in this space" Chandra said. "My view is that hatches and sedans will now be stabilising at a certain level of penetration." He added "Today the median price is around ₹11 lakhs, whereas six or seven years ago it would have been ₹5-6 lakhs. Cars are more expensive because of regulations, more tech features, and getting bigger because that's the natural preference", he added.

Two-wheeler sales fell 6 percent to 46,74,562 units during Q1. Motorcycle sales saw a bigger fall (-9.2 percent, 29,03,449 units) than scooters (0.2 percent, 16,61,752 units), but the biggest loser during the period was the moped segment (-10.9 percent, 1,09,361 units).

The Commercial Vehicle (CV) segment, also a barometer of the economy, saw a marginal fall of 0.6 percent with sales of 2,23,215 units during Q1. Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCVs) saw a bigger fall of 2.3 percent within the segment, with sales of 83,639 units. LCV sales remained almost flat at 1,39,576 units. 

The three-wheeler segment was the only one to see overall growth during Q1, even though it was only 0.1 percent.  In this market, e-rickshaws saw the highest fall of 30.3 percent, with sales of 2,593 units. Only passenger carriers saw a marginal growth of 1.7 percent, with sales of 1,35, 871 units during Q1.

End of the Quadricycle segment?

What’s also noteworthy in the auto industry sales trend for Q1 is the near extinction of the quadricycle segment, which sold only 4 units, a 94 percent fall over the same period last year.