Auto Sales Up 55% in Q1 FY23; Most OEMs Post Healthy YoY Growth

The grey clouds hovering over India's automobile industry seem to be fading away as the passenger vehicle OEMs were able to retail 275,788 units during June 2022, against 231,633 units that were retailed in June 2021. Year-on-Year (YoY) that is a growth of 19%.

Two-wheeler sales also grew 23.4% YoY in June 2022, with sales of 1,308,764 units as against 1,060,565 units of 2Ws in June last year.

India’s three-wheeler industry, which has now become the poster boy of the country’s EV adoption, maintained its good run YoY in June 2022. As against 9,404 units that were sold in June 2021, a total of 26,701 three-wheelers were sold in India last month, resulting in a substantial growth of 184%!

Across all segments, June 2022 domestic sales accounted for 1,611,300 units against the previous year’s tally of 1,301,602 units, giving the sector a growth of 23.79% YoY.

Domestic sales in Q1 FY23 (April-June) also saw a significant growth over Q1 FY22. Across all vehicle segments, Q1 FY23 saw sales of 4,935,870 units against the corresponding period’s (Q1 FY22) 3,190,202 units, a growth of 54.72%. Breaking that down to individual segments would show PVs growing 40.87%, two-wheelers growing by 54.13%, CVs growing by 112% and three-wheelers growing by 211%.

In terms of numbers, sales of passenger vehicles in Q1 FY23 stood at approximately 910,431 units, while that of two-wheelers, three-wheelers and commercial vehicles stood at 3,724,533 units, 76,293 units and 224,512 units respectively.

Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM, while commenting on the industry’s performance said the government has recently taken significant measures to ease the inflationary pressure and help the common man by reducing central excise duty on petrol & diesel and changing the duty structure to moderate prices of steel & plastic. 

“Indian automobile industry appreciates and thanks the government for these efforts. Industry also keenly looks forward to similar support on CNG prices, which has seen exponential increase in the last seven months. Support on CNG prices would help the common man, facilitate public transport and will enable a cleaner environment,” Menon reasoned.

Atul Chandel, Director, Autobei Consulting Group said the June numbers show that the market is recovering. “The competition at the same is increasing. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months. OEMs may win or lose but India's auto industry will only grow from here,” he said. 

Passenger Vehicles

Though Maruti Suzuki, India's largest PV maker, continued its number one run by retailing 122,685 units in June 2022, on a YoY basis, its sales fell 1.28%. The company had retailed 124,280 units in June last year. 

With 49,001 units in June 2022, Hyundai Motor India reported a growth of 21% over last June’s retail of 40,496 units. The Korean automaker retailed 135,295 units in Q1 this fiscal against 114,499 units in Q1 FY22, resulting in a growth of 18.16%.

Among other notable performers, Skoda Auto India saw the biggest jump in retails as it managed to sell 6,023 units in June 2022, as compared to the 734 units it had retailed in June 2021. Domestic sales of Toyota Kirloskar Motor also grew substantially from the 8,798 units it had retailed in June last year to 16,495 units it retailed last month – a growth of 87.48%. 

Honda and Kia also posted strong growth in car retails YoY during June 2022. Honda was able to retail 7,834 units as against 4,767 units it had sold in June 2021. Kia, on the other hand, retailed 24,024 units in June 2022, a growth of 60% over its June 2021 retail of 15,015 units. 

YoY numbers for Mahindra & Mahindra, the latest manufacturer to announce its 4W EV strategy, also saw strong growth. Compared to the 16,913 units it had sold in June 2021, M&M retailed 26,880 units in June 2022, a growth of 58.93%.

Renault and MG Motor India seem to be growing steadily as the former, in comparison to 6,100 units it had retailed in June 2021, was able to retail 9,317 units in June 2022. The latter managed to retail 4,503 units in June 2022, as against 3,558 units it had retailed in June 2021. 

Aided by the good performance of the Virtus sedan and the Taigun SUV, Volkswagen India sold a total of 3,315 units in June 2022, more than doubling its June 2021 tally of 1,633 units.

Nissan India's retail figures look unchanged as the OEM was able to retail 3,515 units in June 2022, and almost similar 3,503 units in June 2021. Isuzu, on the other hand, retailed only 83 units in June 2022. 

Two-Wheelers

In the month gone by, market leaders Hero MotoCorp retailed 463,210 units, in comparison to  the 438,514 units it had retailed in June 2021, giving the company a YoY growth of 5.63%. 

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India's sales, meanwhile, jumped 67.36% from 212,453 units in June 2021 to 355,565 units in June 2022. TVS Motor too posted growth 32.78% growth YoY by selling 193,090 units in June 2022, as against 145,413 units it had retailed in June last year.

Royal-Enfield and Suzuki Motorcycle India posted almost similar numbers during June 2022. The former was able to retail 50,265 units in June 2022, while the latter retailed 52,928 units in the same month. In the same month last year, RE had sold 35,815 units, while Suzuki had sold 40,474 units. Yamaha India, from selling 24,588 units in June 2021, went on to retail 52,099 units in June 2022, more than doubling its YoY growth.

In June 2022, Bajaj Auto was the only mainstream 2W Indian OEM to have posted negative growth YoY. In comparison to 155,640 units it had sold in June 2021, the Pune-based company retailed 125,083 units in June 2022, a drop of 19.63% YoY.

Among electric two-wheelers makers, Ather Energy, backed by Hero MotoCorp, sold 3,190 e2W units in June 2022, against the 832 units it had retailed in June 2021. Okinawa Autotech, meanwhile, sold 9,248 units in June 2022, in comparison to 3,887 units it had sold in June 2021.

Three-Wheelers 

While its performance in the two-wheeler segment wasn’t positive, Bajaj Auto posted a strong 113.37% YoY growth in the three-wheeler segment by selling 13,221 units in June 2022 as against the 6,196 units it had sold in June 2021. 

Piaggio Vehicles also posted strong growth YoY as the OEM retailed 6,273 units of three-wheelers in India in June 2022. It had only sold 1,500 units in June 2022.

Mahindra & Mahindra and Atul Auto were the other two OEMs that retailed over 1,500 three wheelers units in June 2022. Mahindra posted sales of 4,008 3Ws in June 2022, as compared to 750 units in June 2021, while Atul Auto retailed 1,632 units in June 2022 as against 724 units it had retailed in June 2021. 

Commercial Vehicles

SIAM reports sales of CVs only on a quarterly basis. In Q1 FY23, Tata Motors not only maintained its leadership position in the segment but was also able to post strong growth YoY. Against the 42,825 units it had sold during the same period last year, Tata Motors reported sales of 93,888 units in Q1 FY23. 

Mahindra & Mahindra, another home-grown CV maker, sold 58,982 units of CVs in Q1 FY23 as against 34,034 units it had sold in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Ashok Leyland too posted healthy YoY growth in Q1 FY23, selling 37,124 units against the 16,550 units it had sold in the same period last year. Likewise, VECV also posted growth YoY retailing 15,383 CV units in Q1 FY23, against 3,971 units it had sold during the same period last year. 

Maruti Suzuki India and Isuzu Motor were also able to capitalise on the opportunity in the Indian CV market as both the OEMs posted good YoY growth. The former, in comparison to 2,395 units it had retailed in Q1 FY22, was able to sell 5,069 units in Q1 this fiscal. The latter, in comparison 4,056 units it had sold in Q1 last fiscal, sold 10,817 units during the same period this year. 

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