Passenger vehicles (PV) and tractors are the only categories to have outdone the sales figures posted in CY19. All the other categories 2W, 3W, and commercial vehicles (CV), witnessed growth in CY22 compared to CY21 but declined when compared to CY19.
For CY22, while total vehicle retails grew by 15% YoY and 17% compared to CY20, it failed to surpass CY19 retails (a pre-COVID year) and registered a fall of 10%.
Manish Raj Singhania, President, FADA, said, “PV category during this period continued to gain new grounds by clocking 34.31 lakh retails during the full year.”
Highest PV Retails In India
Compared to CY21, CY20, and CY19, the PV segment grew by 16.35%, 40.73%, and 15.56% YoY, respectively. Against 3,431,497 PVs sold in CY22, 2,949,182 units sold in CY21, 2,438,424 in CY20, and 2,969,574 units in CY19.
“This is by far, the highest retails which PVs have done till date,” said Singhania.
However, with phase-2 of the BS6 emission norms slated to come into place, there might be price hikes in all vehicle categories, including PVs. Additionally, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the repo rate by 225 basis points since May 2022. FADA had advised the auto OEMs to announce special schemes so that retail sales momentum continues.
| CATEGORY (CHART 1) | CY'22 | CY'21 | CY'20 | YoY % (2021) | YoY % (2020) | CY'19 | YoY % (2019) |
| 2W | 1,53,88,062 | 1,35,73,682 | 1,39,26,085 | 13.37% | 10.50% | 1,82,04,593 | -15.47% |
| 3W | 6,40,559 | 3,73,562 | 3,76,431 | 71.47% | 70.17% | 7,18,093 | -10.80% |
| E-RICKSHAW(P) | 2,94,111 | 1,32,851 | 81,372 | 121.38% | 261.44% | 1,25,820 | 134% |
| E-RICKSHAW WITH CART (G) | 20,730 | 13,970 | 5,816 | 48.39% | 256.43% | 4,733 | 338% |
| THREE WHEELER (GOODS) | 78,559 | 67,865 | 71,936 | 15.76% | 9.21% | 99,830 | -21% |
| THREE WHEELER (PASSENGER) | 2,46,559 | 1,58,399 | 2,16,746 | 55.66% | 13.75% | 4,86,306 | -49.30% |
| THREE WHEELER (PERSONAL) | 600 | 477 | 561 | 25.79% | 6.95% | 1,404 | -57.26% |
| PV | 34,31,497 | 29,49,182 | 24,38,424 | 16.35% | 40.73% | 29,69,574 | 15.56% |
| TRAC | 7,94,979 | 7,69,638 | 7,23,904 | 3.29% | 9.82% | 6,44,612 | 23.33% |
| CV | 8,65,344 | 6,55,696 | 5,60,056 | 31.97% | 54.51% | 8,80,904 | -1.77% |
| LCV | 5,14,621 | 4,08,158 | 3,80,720 | 26.08% | 35.17% | 5,29,317 | -2.78% |
| MCV | 57,620 | 48,073 | 36,878 | 19.86% | 56.24% | 61,088 | -5.68% |
| HCV | 2,67,414 | 1,75,342 | 1,25,170 | 52.51% | 113.64% | 2,72,945 | -2.03% |
| Others | 25,689 | 24,123 | 17,288 | 6.49% | 48.59% | 17,554 | 46.34% |
| Total | 2,11,20,441 | 1,83,21,760 | 1,80,24,900 | 15.28% | 17.17% | 2,34,17,776 | -9.81% |
2Ws Shrink Further
Seen as the pulse of the auto industry, the 2W sales continued to shrink in December 2022 compared to December 2021 (Chart 1). However, these figures grew compared to the sales figures of CY21 and CY20. But the 2W industry is still far from reaching the pre-pandemic levels.
“Reasons like rise in inflation, increased cost of ownership and increased EV sales, the ICE 2W segment is yet to see any green shoots,” explained Singhania.
With 15,388,062 2Ws sold during CY22, the industry grew by 13.37% YoY compared to 13,573,682 2Ws sold in CY21, 10.50% YoY against 13,926,085 2Ws sold in CY20, but fell 15.47% when compared to CY19 figures.
E3Ws Picking Up, ICE 3Ws Declined The Most
The E3W category growing by 338% YoY in the cargo category and 134% YoY in the passenger category is the only good news in the 3W segment, as overall 3W sales (ICE+EV) failed to achieve pre-pandemic figures.
The segment declined 10.80% YoY compared to CY19 figures, as 640,559 3W units were sold in CY22 against 718,093 3Ws sold in CY19.
Singhania said, “The 3W segment which was completely down during COVID has recovered well and narrowed its gap, compared to CY19. Within the segment, it’s the electric rickshaw sub-segment which is showing triple-digit growth thus pushing the EV market share above the 50% mark.”
Lesser CVs, More Tractors
The CV segment has continued to grow throughout CY22 and is now almost at par with CY2019 retail. At the same time, the tractor segment is the only other segment apart from PV, which has grown well above CY21,20 and the pre-COVID year of 2019.
Against 880,904 CVs sold in CY19, 865,344 CVs were sold in CY22, triggering a decline of 1.77% YoY. However, compared to 655,696 CVs sold in CY21, the segment grew 31.97% YoY.
“With an uptick in demand in LCV, HCV, buses, and construction equipment, the Government's continued push for infrastructure development has kept this segment going,” Singhania explained.
The tractor segment grew 23.33% YoY when compared to the pre-pandemic CY19. It also grew 3.29% YoY compared to CY21, as 794,979 tractors were sold in CY22. It has also registered a new lifetime high sales of 7.94 lakh units.
“This feat was possible due to consistently good monsoon, improved cash flow with farmers, better MSP of crops and the Government’s focus on better procurements. Apart from this, timely sowing of the rabi crop also helped to continue this momentum. Festive season sales which were normal after three years also played its part in this strong momentum,” he said.
FADA is cautious about the future as the global geopolitical headwinds, tightening monetary policy, and the lingering effect of the pandemic have combined to create a gloomy global outlook.
Moreover, the first 15 days of January usually show low sales before Lohri/ Sakranti. This is because auto OEMs have done routine price hikes in December and announced the same at the beginning of this year.
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