Sewells survey indicates auto dealers outlook drop

Sewells Group Automotive Dealer Confidence Index (ADCI) Survey indicated a negative sentiment of the automotive dealers across the country.

The result of the first Automotive Dealer Confidence Index (ADCI) Survey for the fiscal 2015-16 was conducted with the intention to capture the opinions of automobile dealers in India at the end of the quarter ended March 2015.

The overall ADCI touched -3, showing mild negative sentiment among the Indian auto dealers who participated and expressed their views through the survey.

The survey was that was taken in the beginning of the current financial year in April 2015 by taking inputs from 175 dealers spread across 121 cities spread across in the country and selling 21 brands of passenger car, commercial vehicle (CV) and two-wheeler.

The key highlights from the April 2015 survey includes that the passenger car index fell into negative from positive recorded at the end of the past two quarters. The index slipped to -2 from a whopping +9 at the end of the last quarter, showing a considerable negative swing in sentiment.

The two-wheeler index continued to slide for the second quarter in a row, indicating the lack of optimism amongst two-wheeler dealers. The index declined from +10 at the end of Oct-Dec 2014 quarter to 0 at the end of Jan-Mar 2015 quarter.

The CV index stood all-time low at -44. The previous low recorded for the CV index was -38 in the quarter ended June 2014.

Comparatively, the Januanry-March 2015 ADCI index tumbled to -3 from +7 recorded in the quarter ended December 2014, showing a transformation to negative from positive.

Jayesh Jagasia, Chief Executive Officer, Sewells Group’s Indian operations India said, “The level of dealers’ sentiment at the end of financial year 2014-15 shows a sobering picture of automotive retail sales for the next two quarters.

Jagasia cited unseasonal rains and sluggish rural demand as reasons for the current negative sentiment among the automotive dealers in the country.

Sewells Group India conducts its ADCI survey in the automotive retail sector to bring out current status of the auto retail market to help the stakeholders of the automotive industry plan accordingly.