Calendar 2022 ended on a positive note for carmakers with some reporting their highest ever sales in a year.
Some like Maruti Suzuki India were the exceptions to the rule with 117,551 cars retailed in December 2022, down 10.17% from the same period in 2021.
Hyundai Motor India despatched 38,831 units, representing a 20.2% YoY increase. Sales in the calendar totalled 5,52,511 units, up 9.4% and its highest ever thus far.
Tata Motors registered a growth of 13.9% YoY and reported sales of 40,407 units in December compared to 35462 units in 2021. Mahindra & Mahindra posted 61% growth with retails of 28,445 units, against 17,722 units in December 2021.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor, meanwhile, retailed 10,421 units, down a tad from 10,834 units sold in December 2021. However, its overall tally for the calendar was 160,357 units, a notch behind its highest ever retail sales of 172,241 units in 2012.
MG Motor India was up 53% at 3899 units, compared to 2550 units in 2021 while Honda Cars India sold 7,062 units in December ’22. The Japanese carmaker reported 95,022 units in the calendar, higher than 9,152 units in CY 2021.
Kia India, meanwhile, grew 94.7% YoY with retails of 15,184 units in the month, compared to 7,797 units last year. Kia closed CY22 with retails of 254,556 units, an increase of 40.1%. The company has also retailed over eight lakh units since its operations started in India in 2018.
On the contrary though, Nissan India’s retails slipped by 32.89% YoY in December, with dispatches of just 2020 units. The Japanese carmaker reported wholesale numbers at 8,991 units with cumulative wholesale YTD growth at 19%.
Volkswagen Passenger Cars India registered a 58% YoY growth in CY22 on the back of the newly launched products, Taigun and the Virtus. Luxury carmaker Audi India announced a 27% growth in CY22 over CY21, with retails of 4,187 units.
Tough Going For 2Ws
Two-wheelers did not have such a great year. Bajaj Auto's domestic sales fell by 2% YoY to 125,525 units in December from 127,593 units in 2021. Exports, which account for a large part of its production, were also down by 36% to 121,499 units from 191,176 2Ws in December 2021.
India's largest two-wheeler OEM Hero MotoCorp retailed a total of 394,179 2Ws in December 2022, denoting a 0.15% YoY decline as it had retailed 394,773 2Ws during December 2021. The OEM's exports also declined from 20,288 2W units in December 2021 to 12,814 units in December 2022. Notably, the company has commenced delivering its first electric scooters in India starting the last week of December.
TVS Motors retailed a total of 227,666 2W units in December 2022, including exports, as against 235,392 units in December 2021. In the domestic market, the OEM registered a 10% growth YoY, increasing from 146,763 units in December 2021 to 161,369 units in December 2022. It also registered strong growth in the electric two-wheeler sector selling 11,071 iQube scooters in the month, against 1,212 units in December 2021.
Royal Enfield also showed a fall with 68,400 motorcycles sold both here and overseas in December 2022, compared to 73,739 units in the preceding year.
Suzuki Motorcycle India, the two-wheeler subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation registered overall sales of 63,912 units in December 2022, resulting in a 25% YoY growth. December 2021 had seen the company sell a combined 47,934 units (domestic plus export). The company sold 40,905 units in the domestic market and exported 23,007 units in December 2022, which incidentally is its highest-ever monthly exports from India.
In the electric space, Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather Energy sold 9,187 units in December 2022, registering a 389% YoY growth. Ravneet Singh Phokela, Chief Business Officer, said Tier 2/3 markets are showing strong adoption rates.
CVs On A Roll
As for commercial vehicles, Tata Motors posted a growth of 6.3% YoY with retails of 32,954 units last month compared to 31,008 units in December 2021. Ashok Leyland jumped up by 49% with retails of 17,112 units in December’22, up from 11,493 units in the preceding year.
VE Commercial Vehicles, the Volvo-Eicher joint venture, sales of 7221 units, comprising 7003 units of the Eicher brand and 218 units of Volvo, last month, up 17.3% from 6154 units in December 2021.
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