Passenger vehicle (PV) dispatches from the manufacturers to the dealers crossed the 4-million units mark for the first time in a calendar year in 2023, marking a growth of about 8% over 3.79 million units dispatched in 2022. The industry previously recorded its peak in annual sales during 2022.
According to Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer- Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India, the record sales were led by the demand for SUVs, which now accounts for 49% of the PV industry in India, up from 42% in the previous year.
The share of hatchbacks has come down to 30% in 2023 from 35% earlier, sedans also dropped to 9.4% from 11% while multi-utility vehicles (MUVs) continue to take up 8.7% share. It may also be noted that the record sales for PVs comes on the back of the average selling price (ASP) of vehicles increasing to almost INR 11.5 lakh in 2023 from INR 10.58 lakh in 2022.
Maruti Suzuki estimates that the ASP which stood at about INR 8.2 lakh by FY 2019-20 has gradually gone up over the past four years owing to commodity prices, regulatory norms and consumer preference for SUV-styled models. Srivastava expects that while there is room for the SUV segment to further grow, its share could hover at around 50-55% in two years. For 2024, he expects PV sales to be muted in single digit.
Maruti Suzuki dispatched just 2,557 units of mini car sales (Alto and S-Presso) in December 2023, a drop from 9,765 units during the corresponding period of last year. Wholesales of compact cars (Baleno, Celerio, Dzire, Ignis, Swift, Tour S, WagonR) were also down to 45,741 units in December 2023, compared to 57,502 units in December 2022. Mid-size sedan Ciaz sales also dipped to 489 units in December 2023, compared to 1,154 units in December 2022. However, the utility vehicle wholesales (Brezza, Ertiga, Fronx, Grand Vitara, Invicto, Jimny, S-Cross, XL6) was up at 45,957 units in December 2023, as against 33,008 units in December 2022.
Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) sold 432,876 SUVs during 2023, a 30 percent jump from 2022. Veejay Nakra, President, Automotive Division, M&M, said: “In December, we sold a total of 35,171 SUVs, a healthy growth of 24 per cent over last year. We continued to face some supply challenges on select parts. We are working closely with our suppliers to mitigate these challenges going forward”.
Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) achieved the highest ever domestic sales in a calendar year, surpassing the 600,000 sales milestone. In 2023, the company recorded sales of 602,111 units, registering a 9 per cent increase over the previous year’s 552,511 units. Additionally, HMIL elevated its export performance by 10 per cent, shipping 163,675 units in 2023 over 148,300 units in the previous year. In December 2023, HMIL achieved sales of 56,450 units, comprising 42,750 units in domestic sales and 13,700 units in exports.
Tarun Garg, COO, HMIL, said: “HMIL has not just kept pace but surpassed industry growth (estimated at around 8.2 per cent), a testament to customers choosing brand Hyundai as their preferred mobility brand. Also in 2023, we proactively expanded our annual production capacity by 50,000 units to meet the increasing demand from our customers.” About 60 percent of HMIL’s sales come from SUVs, up from 53 per cent in 2022. The company now has 90,000 open bookings, of which around 23,000 are for the Creta SUV.
Tata Motors sales in the domestic & international market for Q3 FY 2023-24 stood at 234,981 vehicles, compared to 228,169 units during Q3 FY 2022-23.
Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility said the record sales in the industry during CY2023 was “supported by a strong supply situation, new nameplates launched in the SUV segment, and a robust demand during the longer festive period.”
Mr. Girish Wagh, Executive Director, Tata Motors Ltd. said, “Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles registered domestic sales of 91,735 in Q3FY24, marginally higher than Q3FY23 sales of 91,704. The M&HCV segment grew ~14% vs Q3FY23, with demand coming from government’s infrastructure initiatives, expansion in core industries, and sustained growth in e-commerce. The Passenger Commercial Vehicles segment continued to register consistent post pandemic recovery with sales rising ~19% vs Q3FY23. The YoY growth trend witnessed during past quarters paused in Q3FY24 on account of the higher base effect, impact of elections held across 5 states, and the post festive seasonal slowdown in rural consumption. Going forward, we expect demand to improve in Q4FY24 across most segments of the CV industry due to the Government’s continuing thrust on infrastructure development, the promising growth outlook of the economy and our demand-pull initiatives.”
“Going forward, with multiple new products, including a new nameplate scheduled for launch in CY2024, we remain optimistic about continuing the growth trend in the quarters ahead,” Chandra of Tata Motors said.
Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL) registered domestic sales of 7,902 units with a growth of 12% and export of 3,749 units with a growth of 170% during Dec’23 in comparison to same period in previous year. The company had registered 7,062 units in domestic sales and exported 1,388 units in Dec’22.
Mr. Yuichi Murata, Director, Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India Ltdsaid, “The sales momentum in December has been extremely positive for us in both factory despatches and retail as our network maximised the deliveries for the new SUV Elevate to our customers. Alongside our best sellers City and Amaze, the Elevate has become our strong pillar of business accounting for over 50% of total HCIL sales currently. On the exports front too, we registered our highest ever monthly export volume of 3,749 units from India. With strong sales momentum and growing market potential, backed by a robust business plan, we look forward to usher in 2024 with tremendous positivity and optimism.”
MG Motor India said it had sold 56,902 units in retail. This is a growth of 18 percent over the previous year and marks the fourth consecutive year of growth for the company. In December 2023, the company’s retail sales were 4,400 units, a 13 per cent YoY growth over the same period in the previous year.
MG is now the second largest EV seller in the country with around 25 per cent of its total sales coming from the electric models, according to the company.
After the festive season in October-November, December has been traditionally known to observe hefty discounts from OEMs and dealers to clear off the year-end inventory. In line with this aim to reduce the stocks, most automakers also moderated their dispatches to the dealers.
As per industry estimates, 2.87 lakh PV wholesales were reported during December, while retail sales stood at 4.42 lakh units. The network inventory currently stands at about 1.76 lakh units.
