Indian auto industry ends 2022 on a HIGH! Passenger vehicle sales rise 23 percent to record of 37.93 lakh units

Due to less challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, and "an element of pent up demand", the year 2022 turns out to be the best in the Indian automotive industry.

Domestic passenger vehicle sales rose by 23 per cent to a record of 37.93 lakh units in 2022 led by the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors as the companies rode on easing of pandemic related challenges and semiconductor shortages to cash in on pent up demand, especially for SUVs. Other manufacturers like Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Skoda India also reported record sales in 2022.

"The industry wholesales in January to December 2022 were just short of 38 lakh units. It was 37.93 lakh units against 30.82 lakh in 2021, which is a growth of 23 per cent," Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales Shashank Srivastava told reporters in a virtual conference. He further said the 2022 wholesales are "the highest ever in the industry for a calendar year" and the last highest was in 2018 which was 33.3 lakh units.

"So, this is about 14 per cent higher than the highest ever," he added. On the reasons for the growth, Srivastava said, "I believe this resurgence to the highest ever level is partly because of the better availability of semiconductors because last year was badly affected by the semiconductor issue."

Also, he said in 2022 there were less challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, adding there was also "an element of pent up demand". "We have seen in the last three years, there was actually a decline in the overall industry numbers," Srivastava added. He said demand for SUVs continued to grow and stood at around 42.3 per cent of the total PV sales.

In terms of product mix on the basis of price, he said, "It appears that about 40 per cent of the vehicles sold in the industry were in the bracket of Rs 10 lakh or above." For Maruti Suzuki, sales in the calendar year 2022 were at 15.76 lakh units against 13.64 lakh units in 2021, a growth of almost 16 per cent, he added.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd also reported its highest-ever domestic sales at 5,52,511 units in 2022 with a growth of 9.4 per cent over 5,05,033 units posted in 2021. HMIL Director (Sales, Marketing & Service) Tarun Garg a strong product portfolio aligned with consumer trends has led to HMIL recording its highest-ever domestic sales in 2022.

"Despite strong headwinds in the last few years, we have continued to challenge existing boundaries and establish new Industry benchmarks. SUVs now contribute to more than 50 per cent of our overall volumes...," he added.

Similarly, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd Managing Director Shailesh Chandra said for the passenger vehicles division "calendar year 2022 has been a momentous year as we outpaced industry growth and crossed the distinctive milestone of 5 lakh units comfortably to post wholesale of 5,26,798 units."

Another manufacturer, Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported a total wholesales of 1,60,357 units in 2022 as against 1,30,768 units in 2021, a growth of 23 per cent. The company said the 2022 sales were the highest wholesales in the last 10 years beating the previous record of 1,72,241 units posted in 2012.

Similarly, SKODA AUTO India said it had the "biggest year" in 2022 with over two-fold jump in sales at 53,721 units as against 23,858 units sold in 2021.

In December, Maruti Suzuki's domestic wholesales were at 1,13,535 units last month as against 1,26,031 units in December 2021, down 9.91 per cent as the company adjusted production to reduce dealer inventory.

On the other hand, Hyundai Motor India reported 20.2 per cent growth last month at 38,831 units as compared to 32,312 units in the year-ago month. Similarly, Tata Motors also reported a growth of 13.4 per cent in its domestic passenger vehicle sales at 40,043 units last month as against 35,299 units in December 2021.

SKODA AUTO India also reported a 48 per cent rise in sales at 4,788 units in December 2022 as compared to 3,234 units in December 2021. However, Toyota Kirloskar Motor posted a 3.8 per cent decline in its dispatches to dealers at 10,421 units in December 2022 as against 10,834 units in December 2021.