The first month of the financial year has been under pressure for the past three years in a row. During April 2020, India was under lockdown and automakers observed zero production and sales. April 2021 began on a good note but ended with a tsunami of cases during the second COVID wave. In April 2022, the economy gradually opened up and consumer sentiments improved but automobile OEMs continued to face supply chain constraints.
For the first month of FY 2023-24, while the retails were slow, wholesales were in green across the segments. The following is a segment-wise report of the vehicle dispatches to dealers during April 2023.
Passenger Vehicles: According to industry estimates, there was a growth of 13%, registering sales of about 3.31 lakh units during the month, as against 2.93 lakh units in the corresponding month of last year. However, the retail sales were about 2.85 lakh, compared to about 2.75 lakh, muting a growth of 3.5%.
The PV industry retail was 2.86 lakh (units) and the wholesale was 3.31 lakh (units) which means that there was an increase in the network stock in the industry. The uptick was observed from 2.04 lakh units at the beginning of the month to 2.51 lakh units now, said Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer – Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki.
Maruti said that the company observed some production loss in April owing to semiconductor issues and lost some volumes, especially in Brezza, Grand Vitara, and the Ertiga. Going forward, the company expects chip shortage to continue in Q1 but expects some recovery in Q2, “although visibility on semiconductor supply remains limited.”
The share of SUVs in the domestic market was at about 47% during April 2023.
Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India, said that the double-digit growth in the domestic market has been backed by an overwhelming response to its new Verna. The company aims to carry forward this momentum with the Exter SUV, which is scheduled for launch shortly.
Kia Sonet emerged as the top contributor to overall sales with 9,744 units. The Seltos and the Carens clocked sales of 7,213 and 6,107 units respectively.
Rohan Kanwar Gupta, Vice President & Sector Head – Corporate Ratings, ICRA Limited, said, even as there continues to be concerns regarding moderation in demand on account of the rise in the cost of ownership, the wholesale dispatches were at healthy levels in April 2023, aided by robust order books across OEMs and steady demand.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor said the decline was owing to a week-long maintenance shutdown during April 24-28, 2023 for the upkeep of machinery and equipment to sustain operational efficiencies, productivity and safety.
MG Motors said that the supply chain constraints remain in a few models. However, the company is working on meeting customer demand. The coming months are expected to bring in further improvements on this front.
Shashank Srivastava of Maruti Suzuki said that going forward there are some red flags like inflation and impact of the rural sentiment, so the market outlook is probably mixed.
Two-wheelers: Hero MotoCorp expects the momentum to build up in the coming months on account of a combination of factors, including a slew of new product launches, a healthy growth in the country’s GDP and positive consumer sentiments.
Scooter sales for the company increased to 27,277 units in April from 25,995 units April 2022. However, motorcycle sales dropped this year to 368,830 units as against 392,627 units in April last year.
Commercial vehicles and three-wheelers: In the domestic CV market, VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd. (A Volvo Group and Eicher Motors joint venture) reported Eicher branded trucks & buses sales at 6,142 units in April 2023 compared to 4,766 units in April 2022, representing a growth of 28.9%. Volvo Trucks and Volvo Buses have recorded sales of 168 units in April 2023 compared to 109 units in April 2022, representing a growth of 54.1%.
Tractors: “Festive preponement impacted sales in April as some of the important festivals were in March this year, as against April last year. The unseasonal rains also impacted sales for the month. Going forward, due to positive macroeconomic factors on account of good rabi harvest, improved crop prices and adequate water reservoir levels, we expect demand momentum to improve across geographies, for the quarter,” Escorts Kubota said.
