FADA November 2024 Commercial Vehicle Retail Insights

The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) released the vehicle retail data for November 2024. Key insights highlight a rise in overall vehicle sales compared to the previous year. Tractors faced a slight decline due to varied rural demand. These trends reflect the market's resilience and evolving consumer preferences.

Overall Performance:

• Tractors posted Year-over-Year growth of 29.88% Commercial Vehicles experienced YoY declines by 6.08%.

• Month-over-Month comparisons also reflected uneven results, CV segments contracting by 15.85%.

• Rural demand failed to provide a substantial lift for CV categories.

• Dealers cited restricted product choices, older model issues, insufficient financier support and the absence of major festivals in November. External factors such as elections, weak construction activity, and subdued coal and cement industries further impacted sentiment. 

Short-Term Prospects:

• Advantageous Elements: In the upcoming months, food inflation should be reduced by the anticipated big Kharif harvest, which might boost consumer confidence generally. Rural stability and potential year-end plans may provide mild support.

• Problems: Slow infrastructure development and year-end pricing concerns continue to be obstacles for CVs.

Overall Outlook:

• The CV segment also struggled, with sales down 15.85% MoM and 6.08% YoY.

• Dealers' expectations for December are divided, with 40.54% predicting stable sales, 39.19% predicting growth, and 20.27% predicting de-growth.

• Overall, the atmosphere is cautiously upbeat. Stable rural demand, potential year-end deals, and a benign inflation forecast could all provide modest assistance across segments, even though no single reason points to a robust recovery.

Expectations: 

The CV category faces a more challenging environment. Factors such as subdued infrastructure activity and customers holding back for newer model-year vehicles continue to dampen demand. Nonetheless, selective OEM schemes and year-end offers may provide a limited lift. On balance, while the CV segment’s expectations are not uniformly positive, there is some hope that targeted incentives and stable financing conditions could prevent a sharper decline.

Retail Data for November 2024 (3W, TRACTOR & CV)

Source: FADA Research

The overall MoM and YoY growth was 13.26% and 11.12% respectively (Including PVs)

All India Vehicle Retail Strength Index for Nov'24 on the basis of Urban & Rural RTOs (3Ws and CVs)

Source: FADA Research

OEM wise Market Share Data for the Month of Nov’24 with YoY comparison (CVs)

Source: FADA Research

FADA President, Mr. C S Vigneshwar, shared his perspective on the auto retail performance for November 2024: “While November was initially expected to build on its prior momentum, particularly due to the marriage season, dealer feedback suggests that this segment underperformed overall expectations. Although rural markets offered some support, primarily in the two-wheeler category, marriage-related sales remained subdued. The late occurrence of Deepawali at the end of October also caused a spill over of festive registrations into November, affecting the month’s sales trajectory.”