Car sales declined by a massive margin in May 2020 – Karnataka registered highest car sales, of under 6k units
After a disastrous April’20, sales of 4 wheelers plummeted to historic lows in the month of May’20. Across the country, sales declined by 87% on an year on year basis. We have analyzed sales trends for multiple segments in the last few days. Today in this report we will be sharing some insights from State-level sales trends of May’20.
Karnataka registered sales of 5,847 units in May’20, declining by 66.5% over last year. This is comparatively the best performance across any large state in terms of arresting the sales decline. Partially, it can be credited to relatively better containment of Corona Virus in the state.
Kerala came across as the state with second highest number of 4-wheeler sales with a total of 3,282 units. The state too registered a heavy decline of 80% sales over same month, last year. Uttar Pradesh, saw its sales decline by 90% and it stood at the third spot in terms of total 4-wheeler sales. The state managed overall 4-wheeler sales of 2,622 units.
4th on the list of states was Tamil Nadu with sales decline of 86% and overall numbers falling down to 2,227 units compared to 16,597 units in May’19. Rajasthan which stood at the 5th spot in terms of sales, registered 2,062 4-wheeler registrations in the month of May’20.
It is surprising that only 5 states could cross the 2K car sales mark. In Pre-Corona times, usually over 15+ sates would have their monthly sales tally over 2K. In festive months, 5+ states would have their monthly sales numbers go above the 20K mark too.
Surprisingly Assam stood at the 6th spot in the tally with overall 4-wheeler sales at 1,923 units. Usually, Assam struggles to break it into the top 10 list as well. Maharashtra, which is the worst affected state in terms of Corona Virus spread registered heavy decline in sales by 93%. Its sales plummeted from 28,687 units in May’19 to just 1,875 units in May’20. Mumbai and Pune, two of the hotspots for vehicle sales currently feature in the most impacted cities in terms of Corona Virus cases.
State-wise Car Sales May 2020
| No | State / UT Car Sales * | May-20 | May-19 | Diff | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karnataka | 5,847 | 17,489 | -11,642 | -66.57 |
| 2 | Kerala | 3,282 | 16,569 | -13,287 | -80.19 |
| 3 | Uttar Pradesh | 2,622 | 27,840 | -25,218 | -90.58 |
| 4 | Tamil Nadu | 2,227 | 16,597 | -14,370 | -86.58 |
| 5 | Rajasthan | 2,062 | 14,849 | -12,787 | -86.11 |
| 6 | Assam | 1,923 | 6,881 | -4,958 | -72.05 |
| 7 | Maharashtra | 1,875 | 28,687 | -26,812 | -93.46 |
| 8 | Delhi | 1,836 | 13,343 | -11,507 | -86.24 |
| 9 | Punjab | 1,557 | 8,066 | -6,509 | -80.70 |
| 10 | Haryana | 1,168 | 14,233 | -13,065 | -91.79 |
| 11 | Odisha | 1,136 | 3,828 | -2,692 | -70.32 |
| 12 | Chhatisgarh | 1,016 | 4,378 | -3,362 | -76.79 |
| 13 | Gujarat | 790 | 22,735 | -21,945 | -96.53 |
| 14 | Bihar | 740 | 5,090 | -4,350 | -85.46 |
| 15 | Goa | 693 | 1,471 | -778 | -52.89 |
| 16 | Himachal P | 353 | 4,372 | -4,019 | -91.93 |
| 17 | Jharkhand | 253 | 4,816 | -4,563 | -94.75 |
| 18 | Chandigarh | 239 | 1,308 | -1,069 | -81.73 |
| 19 | Mizoram | 180 | 398 | -218 | -54.77 |
| 20 | Uttarakhand | 148 | 4,098 | -3,950 | -96.39 |
| 21 | Tripura | 121 | 441 | -320 | -72.56 |
| 22 | Arunachal P | 120 | 663 | -543 | -81.90 |
| 23 | Puducherry | 117 | 678 | -561 | -82.74 |
| 24 | J & K | 101 | 7,082 | -6,981 | -98.57 |
| 25 | Nagaland | 91 | 515 | -424 | -82.33 |
| 27 | Sikkim | 90 | 378 | -288 | -76.19 |
| 28 | Meghalaya | 87 | 966 | -879 | -90.99 |
| 29 | West Bengal | 38 | 7,310 | -7,272 | -99.48 |
| 30 | D & N and D & N | 34 | 340 | -306 | -90.00 |
| 31 | Manipur | 3 | 416 | -413 | -99.28 |
| 32 | Ladakh | 0 | 96 | -96 | -100.00 |
| – | Total | 30,749 | 2,35,933 | -2,05,184 | -86.97 |
* Sales numbers of States / UTs which are not mentioned in the list above, were not revealed in the FADA report
States like West Bengal, J&K, Uttarakhand etc. have registered unprecedented sales declines. West Bengal saw overall sales decline by 99.48%. J&K’s vehicular sales went down by 98.5% while Uttarakhand’s sales declined by 96%. Car sales in Gujarat were under 1k units – which is a massive decline.
Also Read – Statewise Two Wheeler Sales May 2020
With vehicular sales slowing down to historic lows, it will become difficult for automotive dealers to continue with their businesses. Profitability has been clearly hit and it could land up resulting in massive job losses at both dealer & OEM levels. Initial sales trend for the month of June’20 too haven’t been very promising. In the meanwhile, industry experts have been urging the government to step in and provide some relief measures to the industry.
