Vehicle Retail Sales Declined In February 2025 - PV Sales Drop Significantly

The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has published its vehicle retail sales report for February 2025. The auto industry sold 18,99,196 vehicles last month, marking a 7.19% decrease compared to the 20,46,328 units sold in February 2024. Additionally, there was a more significant month-on-month decline of 17.12% from the 22,91,621 vehicles retailed in January 2025.

Passenger vehicle sales in February 2025 were recorded at 3,03,398 units. This represents a decline of 10.34% compared to the same period last year when sales reached 3,38,390 units. In contrast, two-wheeler sales fell by 6.33%, with only 13,53,280 units sold compared to February 2024's figure of 14,44,674 vehicles.

Commercial Vehicle and Three-Wheeler Sales

Three-wheeler sales experienced a slight dip of 2%, totalling 94,181 units compared to the previous year's figure of 96,020 units for the same month. However, within this category, passenger three-wheelers saw a modest increase of 1.34%, reaching sales of 44,522 units in February 2025.

In contrast to three-wheelers, commercial vehicle sales faced a more significant drop of 8.6%. The total number of commercial vehicles sold was recorded at 82,763 units compared to the previous year's figure of 90,551 units for February.

Year-to-Date Performance

The auto sector's Year-to-Date performance from April 2024 to February 2025 showed positive trends overall. Total sales during this period increased by approximately 7%, reaching a total of 2,39,98,085 units. Passenger vehicle sales alone rose by about 4.44%, amounting to a total of 37,91,855 units.

Two-wheeler sales during this timeframe grew by around 8.57%, with total sales reaching approximately 1,73,62,194 units. Meanwhile, three-wheeler sales also saw an increase of about 5.55%, totalling around 11,21,607 units.

Industry Insights and Challenges

FADA President C S Vigneshwar commented on the industry's performance: "February witnessed a broad-based downturn across all categories, a trend that was anticipated in our previous survey which projected a 'Flat to De-growth' sentiment for the month. Overall, the market closed with a -7% YoY decline, with 2W, 3W, PV, Trac and CV falling by 6%, 2%, 10%, 14.5% and 8.6% respectively. During the month, dealers began expressing concerns about inventory being pushed to them without their consent. While
such initiatives may serve broader business objectives, it is critical to align wholesale allocations with genuine demand to protect dealer viability and ensure healthy inventory management."

Despite these challenges in specific segments like commercial vehicles and passenger cars in February alone; tractor and commercial vehicle sales remained stable over the Year-to-Date period at figures close to previous years' levels: tractors at approximately eight lakh nine thousand one hundred seven (8 lakh nine thousand one hundred seven) while commercial vehicles stood around nine lakh thirteen thousand three hundred twenty-two (9 lakh thirteen thousand three hundred twenty-two).