Domestic passenger vehicles sales drop 41% due to semiconductor crisis: Siam

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Wholesale passenger vehicle sales declined by 41% YoY in September, as manufacturers struggled to produce adequate units due to semiconductor shortage, Society of Indian Automobiles Manufacturers (Siam) said on Thursday. In comparison to the year ago period, sales of passenger vehicles stood at 1,60,070 units as against 2,72,027 units. Across categories, vehicular sales declined by 20% YoY to 17,17,728 units from 21,40,549 units.

Scooter sales declined by 7% to 5,17,239 units

In September 2021, a decline of 19% was witnessed in the total production of passenger vehicles, three-wheelers, two-wheelers and quadricycles at 21,25,304 units as against the same period last year.

According to the latest data from the auto industry body, two-wheeler dispatches to dealers also saw a sharp decline of 17% at 15,28,472 units as compared to 18,49,546 units in September 2020.

It also said that motorcycle dispatches fell by 22% to 9,48,161 units last month as against 12,24,117 in the corresponding time period a year ago. Sales of scooter also dipped by 7% at 5,17,239 units from 5,56,205 units a year ago.

During the September quarter, two wheeler dispatches declined by 12% from 46,90,565 units in the second quarter of 2020-21 financial year to 41,13,915 units.

However, passenger vehicle wholesales in the July to September quarter witnessed a marginal increase of 2% to 7,41,300 units as against 7,26,232 units in the same period.

Siam further said that the Indian automobile industry continued to face new challenges. Though there is a revival in vehicle demand, shortage of semiconductor chips is causing major bottlenecks for the industry on the other hand. This, coupled with the festive season demand, led long waiting time for the customers on popular models of some segments, it added.