February Auto Sales Preview: Growth momentum in cars, trucks and buses likely to continue; bikes may see demand revival

February Auto Sales Preview: The overall auto sector is expected to report strong sales figures in February 2023, wherein retails are expected to grow at 8-12 per cent year-on-year across segments, driven by multiple factors such as a healthy uptick in the urban markets, marriage season, and improved demand in two-wheelers.

With passenger vehicles (PV) and commercial vehicles (CV) likely to continue their sales growth momentum, the two-wheeler category is also expected to show slight improvement amid rising demand in February; however, broad-based recovery has a long way to go, as per Motilal Oswal report.

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PV retails are expected to grow 6-8 per cent YoY in February 2023, the brokerage said, however, it sees a decline in volume on a month-on-month basis mainly due to a drop in the enquiries across original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), though overall sentiments are still positive, it added.

CV volumes are likely to grow 11-13 per cent YoY during the month, according to Motilal Oswal and it added that demand perceptions were mixed from segments such as agriculture, while it remained stable from other industries.

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Another brokerage LKP Securities suggest weakness in two-wheeler sales except for electric vehicles (EVs), it sees PVs demand to remain strong, but production constraints may remain a challenge in higher variants of SUVs. While tractors are performing stable and strong.

Even YES Securities believe the uptick in rural demand in the two-wheeler category may help the segment register a good show in February on an MoM basis. It said, “In 2Ws, there are signs of improvement in few states, as marriage season demand pull is relatively improving.”

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The brokerage expects good demand for the CV segment amid heavy pre-buy ahead of stricter emission norms, which is expected to kick in from Aprils 2023, the brokerage said estimating a price hike between 4-6 per cent in commercial vehicles, going forward.

While, it added that the PV retails on the other hand are expected to be flattish to mid-single-digit decline as weak model mix continues to hamper deliveries and expects tractors volumes to be flattish MoM, led by continued support by state governments in terms of subsidies and crop prices.

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