Last quarter has been a mixed bag for the carmakers in the motown as the demand revived back for many car manufacturers, the American car manufacturer Ford India also decided to pull the plug for the domestic market after 20 years of its operations.
Also, it stirred the discussion among industry peers on who could be the next one to leave the fifth largest car market in the world. However, some of the car manufacturers have been able to crack the code in some form.
Some car manufacturers who slipped in the pit are emerging faster than ever. Carmakers such as Nissan India, Skoda Auto India and Honda Cars India, who were slipping into the red, are now riding high on the back of new launches.
For instance, Nissan India has posted 333.55% growth in Q2FY22 at 10,284 units compared to 2,372 units in Q2FY21, with the Magnite contributing over 91% of the total sales.
Customer sentiment is very positive this festive season with a strong inflow of bookings; the momentum on Magnite is growing stronger with more than 65,000 plus customer bookings. 'The challenge has been on the supply side with shortages of semiconductors on which we continue to work with the supply chain partners to deliver more,” said Rakesh Srivastava, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India.
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Similarly, lagging Skoda Auto India sales bounced 191.34% in Q2FY22 at 9,396 units after the launch of its first mid-size SUV, Kushaq, based on its MQB-A0 platform. Kushaq, which was just launched three months back, now contributes over 77% of the company's total.
Zac Hollis, Brand Director, Skoda Auto India, said, “We are confident of building our momentum, as we approach the festive season, and look forward to delivering an increasing number of Skoda vehicles across the country. India continues to be an important market for us globally, and we are focussing on strengthening our presence here.”
With the rollout of the ‘India 2.0’ strategy, which began with the launch of Kushaq, Skoda is now present in more than 100 cities and has recently opened new dealerships in key cities across India. While the demand for SUVs is rising more than ever, the company with no SUV in its portfolio Honda Cars India, has managed to bounce back with the launch of the facelift version of its compact sedan, Amaze. Launched in mid-August, in just 40 days, Honda Amaze contributed over 41% of the company's total sales in the second quarter ended in September 2021.
Ashim Sharma, Partner & Group Head, NRI Consulting & Solutions, said, good products do drive sales of the brand because of the novelty factor. This is not just for OEMs with low market share but also for those with a large market share. It becomes noticeable with OEMs who have a low market share.
“But the point here is to be noted is that OEMs who are not well spread out in the country in terms of the network the market share goes up with a new launch that continues for some time but plateaus out after some time. So either they should launch more products or how do you reach from their main cities to other areas as a large chunk of the market is there. For larger OEMs, this plays an important role. So this piece of puzzle these car manufacturers need to figure out soon enough,’ he added.