Sales of two-wheelers at dealerships stayed below the pre-pandemic level as registrations fell for the fourth straight month amid waning pent-up demand and mounting fuel prices.
Two-wheeler registrations — a measure of sales at dealerships — fell 7.7% over the preceding month in February 2021, and are close to 17% and 41% lower than a year ago and March 2020 levels, respectively, according to data compiled by BloombergQuint from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ Vahan website.
That corroborates with analyst estimates compiled by BloombergQuint. Inquiries for two-wheelers in February were lower for both urban and rural regions, Deep Shah and Amber Shukla, analysts at Prabhudas Lilladher, have said in a note. That, according to them, prompted dealers to offer higher discounts during the month.
And that’s just a month after automakers, including two-wheelers, hiked prices across models to fight rising input costs.
Overall retail sales, too, declined 7.5% month-on-month and 13.6% over the year earlier in February.
Besides two-wheelers, registrations of commercial vehicles and three-wheelers remained below the pre-Covid level, while that of passenger vehicles and tractors exceeded.
Passenger Vehicles
Passenger car registrations fell 12% over the preceding month in February but rose 10.1% year-on-year.
Among the automakers tracked by BloombergQuint, only MG Motor and Kia Motors reported a rise in retail shipments both month-on-month and over the year earlier.
Barring these two new entrants, all other automakers posted a drop in registrations over the preceding month. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. witnessed a decline in sales at dealerships over January and year-on-year for the third straight month.
Two-Wheelers
All two-wheeler makers tracked by BloombergQuint, barring Yamaha Motor Co., posted a decline in retail sales over the year earlier. Month-on-month, only Ducati and Triumph witnessed a rise in registrations.
Commercial Vehicles
Retail sales of commercial vehicles rose 5.2% over the preceding month in February but fell 31.7% year-on-year.
Tractors
Tractors registrations remained flat month-on-month I February but rose 17.6% over the year earlier.
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