Car registrations plunge 22% this Navratri despite strong deliveries

Mumbai: Even as carmakers said deliveries this Navratri were robust, car registrations declined sharply, according to provisional data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). Passenger vehicle registrations fell 21.9% to 1.83 lakh units between October 11 and 20, the steepest drop among all vehicle categories.

The fall largely reflects a high base. Last year's Navratri coincided with the rollout of GST 2.0, after sales had come to a standstill for half of August and almost all of September. This year, momentum continued even through Shradh, a period considered inauspicious.

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"The dip is largely optical: last year Navratri ran 11 days against ten and coincided with the GST 2.0 rollout," said FADA president Sai Giridhar.

Maruti Suzuki India, the largest carmaker, said Navratri deliveries were about 98% of last year, and it could have sold more with better supply. "Non-availability of vehicles is an issue. If I had more, we would have sold more. Every dealer is asking for more," said Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer-sales and marketing at Maruti. The company gets 12,000-12,500 bookings daily but can supply only 8,000-8,500. Pending bookings rose to 2.7 lakh after Dussehra from about 2 lakh at the start of October.

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JATO Dynamics data shows registrations of petrol, diesel and CNG cars at the top makers fell 5.2% to 1.69 lakh units. Maruti registered 74,387 cars, up 0.1%. Tata Motors fell 16.4% to 24,843 units, Hyundai 2.7% to 19,706 and Kia 9.3% to 9,731, while Mahindra & Mahindra rose 6.6% to 20,681. It said electric car registrations also fell 5.1% to 11,478 units.

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles said demand remained strong. "The response during Navratri has been particularly encouraging, with over 50,000 vehicles delivered during this festive period, including more than 10,000 on Dussehra alone," said Amit Kamat, chief commercial officer, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles.

Hyundai Motor India said registrations during Shradh and Navratri grew 30% to nearly 41,000 units. "Considering the pace of bookings, we expect momentum to continue through Dhanteras and Diwali," said chief executive officer Tarun Garg.

Dealers said the real picture will emerge in a few days. "We will get to know the real picture after a few days as Vahan portal captures registration with a lag," said a dealer principal.