Retail sales of overall vehicles in India grew by 15.28 per cent to 2,11,20,441 units in 2022 led by record sales of passenger vehicles and tractors, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) said on Thursday.

In 2021, total retail sales of vehicles in India were at 1,83,21,760 units, FADA said in a statement.

Two-wheelers retail sales stood at 1,53,88,062 units last year, a growth of 13.37 per cent from 2021 when sales stood at 1,35,73,682 units.

Passenger vehicles (PV) retail sales were at 34,31,497 units in 2022, as against 29,49,182 units in 2021, up 16.35 per cent, it added.

FADA President Manish Raj Singhania said, "For CY2022, while total vehicle retails grew by 15 per cent year-on-year and 17 per cent compared to CY20 it failed to surpass CY19 retails, (a pre-Covid year) and registered a fall of 10 per cent." He further said, "The PV category during this period continued to gain new grounds by clocking 34.31 lakh retails during the full year. This is by far, the highest retails which PV has done till date." Singhania, however, lamented that the two-wheeler segment once again failed to impress as retail sales during December 2022 continued to fall after two good months.

"Reasons like rise in inflation, increased cost of ownership, rural market yet to pick up fully and increased EV sales, the ICE (internal combustion engine) two-wheeler segment is yet to see any green shoots," he added.

In 2022, commercial vehicles retail sales stood at 8,65,344 units, as against 6,55,696 units in 2021, a growth of 31.97 per cent.

"The CV segment has continued to grow during entire CY2022 and is now almost at par with CY2019 retails. With an uptick in demand in LCV (light commercial vehicles), HCV (heavy commercial vehicles), buses and construction equipment, the government's continued push for infrastructure development has kept this segment going," Singhania said.

He also said the three-wheeler segment which was completely down during Covid has recovered well and has narrowed its gap when compared to CY2019.

"Within the segment it's the electric rickshaw sub-segment which is showing triple-digit growth thus pushing the EV market share above 50 per cent mark," he added.

Three-wheeler retail in 2022 stood at 6,40,559 units, as compared to 3,73,562 units in 2021, up 71.47 per cent.

Singhania said the tractor segment was the only other segment apart from PV which has grown well above calendar years 2021,2020 and pre-Covid year of 2019.

"It has also registered a new lifetime high sales of 7.94 lakh units. This feat was possible due to consistently good monsoon, improved cash flow with farmers, better MSP of crops and government's focus on better procurements," he added.

Tractor retail sales in 2021 were at 7,69,638 units.

Apart from this, timely sowing of rabi crops also helped to continue this momentum. Festive season sales which were normal after 3 years also played its part in this strong momentum, Singhania said.

In December 2022, FADA said the total vehicle retail sales were down 5.4 per cent at 16,22,317 units as against 17,14,942 units in the year-ago month.

Two-wheelers retail sales stood at 11,33,138 units last month, as against 12,75,894 units in December 2021, a decline of 11.19 per cent, FADA said.

Passenger vehicle retail sales were at 2,80,016 units as compared to 2,58,921 units in December 2021, up 8.15 per cent, while commercial vehicles segment witnessed retail sales of 66,945 units as compared to 60,491 units in December 2021, a growth of 10.67 per cent.

On the outlook, FADA said global geopolitical headwinds, tightening monetary policy and the lingering effect of the pandemic have combined to create a gloomy global outlook.

"Auto OEMs have done routine price hikes in December and have announced the same at the beginning of this year. Apart from this, BS-VI phase II norms coming in, there will be further price hikes across all categories," it said, adding to counter this, Auto OEMs should announce special schemes so that retail sales momentum continues.

Due to inflation pressure, upcoming change in vehicle norms resulting in price hikes, FADA said it remains cautious during the last quarter of FY23.

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