Leading vehicle manufacturers including Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), Hyundai Motor India (HMIL), Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have reported record sales in FY24 in their domestic wholesales (dispatches to dealers) to cross a total industry volume of 4.2 million units from 3.89 million units in FY23.
MSIL lead the market by selling 17,59,881 units in the domestic market during the year (16,06,870 units), up 9.52 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y). In the monthly sales also, the company recorded a y-o-y growth of 1,52,718 units in March (1,32,763 units).
“This was the highest-ever March sales we have seen and interestingly this was the 15th straight month of the highest-ever monthly numbers...cumulatively for the year, wholesale were 42,29,566 units of passenger vehicle (PV) in FY24, and it’s a 8.7 per cent growth over 38,90,000 units of last year,” Shashank Srivastava, Executive Committee Member, MSIL, told reporters here.
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The company gained a market share of 0.4 per cent over last year, reaching up 41.60 per cent in the Indian PV industry, he said, adding that this is the first time that the industry crossed the four-million mark ever, making India the third largest PV market in the world, overtaking Japan.
HMIL sees sales grow
Similarly, HMIL reported a growth of 8.3 per cent growth in its annual sales to around 6.15 lakh vehicles in FY24 (5.67 lakh PVs). On monthly sales, it grew 5 per cent y-o-y to 53,001 units in March (50,600 units).
“Our SUV penetration reached highest-ever of 63 per cent. In FY23, we had a SUV penetration of 53 per cent, and as for industry, the SUV penetration has moved from 43 per cent to 51 per cent,” Tarun Garg, Chief Operating Officer, HMIL, said, adding that the capacity expansion of 50,000 units in July has helped the company reach to the numbers.
The ‘Creta’ maker is working on a dealer stock of three weeks and for the industry, it is around four-six weeks. So the stock levels are higher than it used to be.
When asked about the current financial year’s expectations because of the high-base year, Garg told businessline that “I don’t think things are suddenly very bad. At the same time, definitely things are moderating and we have to get used to this new normal, where probably the growth rate will moderate to low single-digit rather than double digits or high single-digits where we are used to for the last two-three years.”
Companies including Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Honda Cars India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor also registered growth in their sales during the month.
Declining for some
However, foreign subsidiaries including Kia India, MG Motor, Renault India, Volkswagen, Skoda and Nissan reported decline in the sales during the month.
In the two-wheeler sales, market leader Hero MotoCorp reported a y-o-y decline of 8.64 per cent to 4.59 lakh units (5.02 lakh units). However, other manufacturers such as TVS Motor Company, Royal Enfield and Suzuki Motorcycle reported growth in their sales on the yearly basis.
In the commercial vehicles, companies including Ashok Leyland, M&M and Tata Motors continue to report negative sales during the month.