Passenger vehicle despatches record the best July ever

As per industry estimates, 352,492 passenger vehicles were despatched from factories to dealerships in July – an increase of 3.1% on a high base of 341,971 units a year earlier. That would be the highest July sales on record for the passenger vehicle segment in India.

Automakers in India mostly report wholesale despatches from factories and not retail sales to customers. Maruti Suzuki reported 6.5% growth in sales to 152,126 units last month. While sales of small cars at the company declined 36.5% to 78,040 units, those of utility vehicles nearly tripled to 62,049 units. Maruti Suzuki raced ahead of homegrown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra in the fast-growing SUV segment, with sales of 42,620 units of models like the Brezza, Grand Vitara, Fronx and Jimny.

Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer (marketing and sales) at Maruti Suzuki, said automaker attained number one slot in SUV market with 24.6% share.

“The share of small cars in the industry has been under pressure and is expected to reduce to 30.5% by the end of the fiscal compared to 34% in FY23. SUVs though continue to grow at a fast pace on the back of new launches,” he said, adding that strong sales of SUVs also boosted the company’s market share in July.” Maruti Suzuki’s market share went up to 43.3% last month, from 41.8% in July 2022. At Hyundai Motor India, wholesale volumes remained almost flat at 50,701 units. Sales at Tata Motors also remined largely unchanged at 47,628 units.

With the easing of supply constraints, Hyundai is optimistic of strong sales in the festive season. “With the semiconductor supply issues more or less behind us, we are all geared up for the upcoming festive season in India starting with Onam in Kerala,” chief operating officer Tarun Garg said.Mahindra reported its highest-ever SUV sales, 36,205 units, in July. Veejay Nakra, president (automotive division), said the company continued to receive robust demand for its key brands.Toyota Kirloskar Motor registered its highest ever despatches in July at 20,759 units.

Atul Sood, vice-president (sales and strategic marketing) at Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said: “Given the mid-year sales trend and the favourable demand sentiments, coupled with our increase in production by adding a third shift operation, we are confident of recording one of our strongest years in the country.”

In the commercial vehicle segment, market leader Tata Motors posted a 1% on-year declined in sales at 31,216 units in July.

Industry veterans attributed the drop primarily to pre-buying by fleet operators ahead of the transition to the second phase of the BS-VI emission standards at the start of the fiscal year. Macroeconomic fundamentals, they said, remained positive and should support sales of commercial vehicles going ahead.

In the two-wheeler segment, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto both posted a 14% fall in sales volume, to 371,204 and 141,990 units, respectively. “The numbers are reflective of the inclement weather conditions in July, including unprecedented rains and floods in certain parts of the country. The incessant rains and the floods caused crop damage in several states, and also resulted in sharp decline in customer footfalls at the dealerships,” Hero MotoCorp said.