Tata Motors also revealed that it had produced 73,107 units of Nexon, Punch during Q1 FY23, up 234.64 per cent compared to 21,846 units sold in Q1 FY22.
Strong March quarter show restricts automobile sales decline in FY21 to 13.6%
Yet, this was the second straight year of double-digit decline in the auto industry. The low base helped prop up numbers in one quarter but makes the narrative even more worrisome for the full year
Sumant Banerji | April 12, 2021 | Updated 21:24 IST
Malaise in auto sector is structural
A strong rebound in the last quarter, where sales jumped nearly 26 per cent over last year, restricted overall decline in sale of automobiles during a pandemic-hit fiscal 2021 to 13.6 per cent at 18.6 million units.
In a year where at least two months of sales was lost due to the lockdown in April and May last year, it could have been much worse. Industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had at the start of the fiscal in April 2020, when the pandemic was still fresh, said sales could potentially shrink by over 20 per cent to just 15.5 million units. The relatively modest decline was part of its mo