Car, SUV sales up 27%, volumes hit highest ever in domestic market

NEW DELHI: As personal mobility made a comeback post the Covid shocks, Indians bought cars, and that too in record numbers. In perhaps the first year where worries around Covid were the least and supplies of the critical semi-conductor chips started to get better, car and SUV sales grew the fastest in over a decade - at 27% - while overall volumes hit the highest-ever in the domestic market.
The trend, which was also fuelled by the surge of SUVs, is, however unlikely to carry forward in the new fiscal as the pent-up demand of the previous years - built up on supply shortages as well as the brisk pick-up post opening of the economy - may not sustain.
Maruti expects growth to slow down to 5-7% this year. The overall numbers are expected to cross the psychological level of 40 lakh units this fiscal year. According to initial estimates, sales in 2022-23 were estimated at 38.9 lakh units, a 27% growth over the 30.7 lakh units dispatched in 2021-22. Companies ranging from Maruti Suzuki, to Hyundai, Kia, MG and luxury makers such as Mercedes-Benz scored record numbers in the year. New models and a surge in SUV demand were seen to be contributing factors to the surge.
Shashank Srivastava, director (Sales & Marketing) at Maruti Suzuki, said the company scored the highest domestic and export sales in 2022-23. It sold 16 lakh passenger vehicles in the year gone by 13.3 lakh it sold in 2021-22. Export volumes stood at 2.6 lakh units against 2.4 lakh units it sold in the previous year.
Hyundai, which had an 18% growth in the domestic market on sales of nearly 5.7 lakh units, had its best-ever year. Tarun Garg, chief operating officer of the company, said the momentum is likely to continue as demand from the relatively-younger population is likely to stay strong.
While Mahindra & Mahindra will announce its numbers on Monday, Tata Motors wrapped up a great year, also thanks to its superlative performance with elevtrics. Tata Motors' sales of passenger vehicles stood at almost 5.4 lakh units (50,000 EVs) against 3.7 lakh units in 2021-22.
Kia also had the highest sales in the country at 2.7 lakh units which were up 44% over what it sold in FY22.