Car sales shift into top gear on GST cut, festive deals

Sept’s 45% rise in registrations buoys six-month growth to 6%

- SWARAJ BAGGONKAR

GROWTH IN NEW car sales, which was languishing till August, went into top gear in the following month following GST rate reduction anda deluge of tempting offers on older stock offered by desperate dealers.

September alone saw an estimated 45% spike in registrations, dwarfing the 2.6% growth recorded in the previous five months ending August. This single month leap has pushed growth in the first half of the year to little over 6% compared to the same period last year.

As per Maruti Suzuki estimates, retail passenger vehicle volumes in September surged to 400,000 units, up from 275,681 last year.

THE FIRST HALF of FY26 thus saw retail volumes at 2.04 million units (as against 1.91 million units in the year-ago period). This figure is almost equal to the wholesales of 2.05 million during the same six months in the year-ago period.