Passenger vehicle wholesales in India increased 1.87 per cent year-on-year to 361,717 units last month, industry body SIAM said, adding they were optimistic that the festival season would push up demand.

The passenger vehicle dispatches to dealers stood at 3,55,043 units in September 2022. Similarly, two-wheeler sales increased to 17,49,794 units last month from 17,35,199 units in the year-ago period, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said.

Total three-wheeler wholesales rose to 74,418 units last month from 50,626 units in September 2022. Total dispatches last month were up at 21,41,208 units from 20,93,286 units in September 2022.

The wholesales of PV rose to its highest level in any quarter so far in the July-September period, riding on the back of robust demand for utility vehicles, SIAM said.

Overall passenger vehicle (PV) dispatches from companies to dealers rose to 10,74,189 units in July-September 2023-24, up 4.7 per cent from 10,26,309 units in the same period of 2022-23.

It is also the first time that the domestic PV wholesales have crossed the 20 lakh mark in the first half (April-September) of any financial year.

“The sales growth in the PV segment is being fuelled by strong demand for the utility and sports utility vehicles. The vertical is now accounting for around 60 per cent of the overall sales,” SIAM president Vinod Aggarwal told reporters here.

Sales of entry-level cars, however, continue to dip, he added. The entry-level car wholesales dropped to 35,000 units in the second quarter compared with the peak of 1.38 lakh cars in July-September 2018-19, Aggarwal said.

A similar trend is there in the entry-level two-wheeler segment with rural demand yet to pick up fully, he added. In the first six months of the fiscal, total PV wholesales rose to 20,70,163 units from 19,36,804 units.

Aggarwal said passenger vehicles, three-wheelers, and commercial vehicles continued to witness growth in the second quarter of 2023-24, although two-wheeler wholesale numbers posted a marginal contraction compared with the same period of last year.

Total two-wheeler dispatches declined to 45,98,442 units in July-September 2023 from 46,73,931 units in the year-ago period.

Commercial vehicle dispatches rose to 2,47,929 units from 2,31,991 units in the year-ago period.

Total three-wheeler wholesales surged to record 1,95,215 units in the second quarter compared with 1,20,319 units in the same period last fiscal.

In the September quarter, overall sales rose to 61,16,091 units from 60,52,739 units in the second quarter of 2022-23.