Car sales kick-start year 2023 with top gear

PTI, Feb 2, 2023, 9:55 AM IST

Credit: iStock Photo

Car sales in 2023 got off to a good start with auto majors such as Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, M&M Ltd, TKM, Kia India and Hyundai, reporting growth in vehicle sales number in January.

However, MG Motor and Honda saw decline in their sales volume during the same period.

On Wednesday, the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported a 12 per cent increase in total sales at 1,72,535 units in January. The company had sold a total of 1,54,379 units in the year-ago period, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) said in a statement.

Total domestic passenger vehicle sales were at 1,55,142 units as compared to 1,36,442 units in the corresponding period previous year, a growth of 14 per cent, it added.

Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer Marketing & Sales Shashank Srivastava said the industry began with a low network stock because of high retails in December.

”Therefore, the depleted inventory resulted in slightly muted retails, taking up the network stock to 1.84 lakh units. On the demand side, the enquiries and bookings have been steady despite price hikes done by several OEMs,” he noted.

MSI said its exports last month stood at 17,393 units as compared to 17,937 units in the same month last year. Posting a 37 per cent growth in its total vehicle sales, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Ltd said it sold 64,335 units in January.

It had registered a total sales of 46,808 units in January 2022.

The total passenger vehicles sale was up 65 per cent at 33,040 units compared to 19,646 units sold in January 2022.

The utility vehicle domestic sales during the previous month grew 66 per cent at 32,915 units as against 19,848 units in January 2022 despite disruptions in the supply chain of crash sensors and airbag ECUs due to the unavailability of semiconductors, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Tata Motors on Wednesday reported a 6.4 per cent growth in total vehicle sales at 81,069 units in January.

In the year-ago period, the company’s total vehicle sales stood at 76,210 units.

Another auto major Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Wednesday posted a 175 per cent growth in vehicle sales at 12,835 units in January.

It had sold 7,328 units in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement.

”Even with a month-on-month strong growth of 175 per cent, we anticipate customer demand to gain further momentum in this year,” Atul Sood, vice president, sales and strategic marketing at TKM, said.

The company has commenced dispatches of its Hycross SUV and is making efforts to meet the growing demand for the vehicle in the country, he said and added that its Urban Cruiser Hyryder also continues to witness healthy demand.

Kia India on Wednesday said its wholesales grew a 48 per cent at 28,634 units in January.

The company’s wholesales stood at 19,319 units in the year-ago period.

The growth was driven by Seltos and Sonet models, as their sales stood at 10,470 and 9,261 units, respectively, during the reported month, followed by Carens with 7,900 units and Carnival with 1,003 units sold domestically, the automaker said in a statement.

The company also said it recorded the highest-ever monthly sales of Carens.

”We have witnessed an encouraging start to CY2023 with sales of 28,634 units in January. We also plan to introduce PBVs (purpose-built vehicles) this year for special services in India,” Hardeep Singh Brar – National Head for Sales and Marketing at Kia India, said.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd has registered a 16.6 per cent increase in vehicle sales at 62,276 units in January, the company said on Wednesday.

It had retailed a total of 53,427 unit of vehicles a year ago.

During the last month, domestic sales stood at 50,106 units as against 44,022 units sold in 2022. Exports grew 29.4 per cent at 12,170 units from 9,405 units in the same month last year, Hyundai Motor India said.

”We have begun CY2023 on a high note recording double digit growth in the month of January,” Tarun Garg, Chief Operating Officer at Hyundai Motor India Ltd, said.

On the other hand, Honda Cars India domestic sales plunged by a quarter percentage point to 7,821 units in January.

The same stood at 10,427 units last year, according to a statement.

Its vehicle exports also declined 17 per cent at 1,434 units in the reported month as against 1,722 units previous year.

”January 2023 volumes were in line with our expectations, as we are focusing on seamless transition of our line-up to the upcoming new emission norms under RDE regime,” Yuichi Murata, Director of marketing and sales at Honda Cars India Ltd, said.

MG Motor India also reported a 4 per cent fall in vehicle sales at 4,114 units in January over the same month last year.

The carmaker said production is regaining momentum with some improvement in the supply chain.

However, select variants of its vehicles still remain impacted, MG Motor India added.