The 42-day festive period – starting on Navratri and ending 15 days after Dhanteras – saw a new milestone in car sales, said Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) in a new report released on Tuesday. The association said that significant growth was observed in two-wheeler, three-wheeler, commercial vehicles as well as passenger vehicles categories, as compared to the previous year. However, the tractor segment saw a slight decline. The festive period saw an overall increase of 18.73 per cent in car sales. 

FADA President, Manish Raj Singhania said, “During the 42-day festive period of FY2023, we reached  a new milestone with vehicle sales climbing to 37.93 lakh, a 19 per cent increase from last year’s 31.95 lakh. Significant growth was observed in the two-wheeler, three-wheeler, commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles, with respective rises of 21 per cent, 41 per cent, 8 per cent, and 10 per cent. Conversely, the tractor segment experienced a  slight decline of 0.5 per cent.”

As many as 28,93,107 two-wheeler vehicles were sold in the festive period, as opposed to 23,96,665 in the same 42-day period the previous year. FADA data showed that 5,47,246 passenger vehicles were sold as against 4,96,047 previous year, while 1,42,875 three-wheelers were sold and 1,23,784 commercial vehicles were sold, amounting to 37,93,584 vehicles sold in the festive period.

Rural areas particularly contributed to the surge in the sale of two-wheelers, said Singhania. “Despite initial underperformance during Navratri, particularly in the passenger vehicle sector, the situation improved by Deepawali, ending with a 10 per cent growth rate,” he said.