Cars, SUVs buck retail auto sales drop

Tractors also retain traction in March.

Retail sales of passenger vehicles maintained growth in March with more than 2.79 lakh units sold, data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) showed. The figure was not strictly comparable with the year-earlier period, when sales were halted by the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. Notwithstanding the lower base, overall vehicle sales slumped 28.6% to about 16.49 lakh units. Two-wheelers sales shrank by more than a third to about 11.95 lakh units, while three-wheeler deliveries halved to 38,034 units. Retail sales of commercial vehicles contracted 42% from a year earlier to 67,372 units in March. Tractor sales, however, continued to grow, rising 29.2% to 69,082 units.