Registrations vs sales vs exports: what is the difference?
Four numbers are often called sales. They measure different things at different times.
4 min read · Updated 5 October 2026
Four measures, four meanings
| Measure | What it counts | When | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registrations | Vehicles registered for road use | After delivery to the customer | Demand, share, local mix |
| Dispatches (wholesale) | Vehicles shipped by the OEM to dealers or distributors | Before retail sale | Production and supply planning |
| Retail sales | Vehicles sold by dealers to customers | At the point of sale | Dealer performance |
| Exports | Vehicles leaving a country, from customs records | At shipment | Trade flows, destination mix |
Why they differ
Dispatches can run ahead of retail when dealers build stock and fall behind when they run it down. Registrations follow retail, but with a short lag. Exports describe shipments, which may sit in a port or a warehouse before they are sold and registered abroad.
Which one to use
- To understand customer demand and share, use registrations.
- To plan production and supply, look at dispatches.
- To judge dealer performance, use retail sales.
- To see where vehicles are going, use export data.
Reading them together
Comparing measures shows what a single one cannot. If exports to a country rise but its registrations stay flat, stock may be building up. If dispatches rise faster than registrations, dealer inventory is growing. This is why we offer China export data, India port data and country-wise registrations on the same structure.
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