Auto Wholesales in Dec 2022: Mixed bag, sentiments are positive

New Delhi: During the last month of the year gone by, the vehicle dispatches from the factories to the dealers remained a mixed bag for the automobile industry. Sales for passenger vehicles were stable however reported a drop on a month-on-month (MoM) basis. The two wheeler segment was on a slow pace, commercial vehicles in the green lane and tractor sales at a healthy level.

The following is a segment-wise report of automobile wholesales during December 2022.

Passenger Vehicles

In an increasing shift towards bigger sized, feature rich vehicles, utility vehicles (UVs) contributed towards most part of sales volumes in the domestic market.

Country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki reported a drop in domestic wholesales for the month. Sales of mini cars (Alto and S-Presso) declined at 9,765 units as compared to 16,320 units in the year-ago period.

Similarly, sales of compact cars (Baleno, Celerio, Dzire, Ignis, Swift, Tour S and WagonR) were also down at 57,502 units as against 69,345 units in December 2021.

“The shortage of electronic components had some impact on the production of vehicles, mainly in domestic models. The Company took all possible measures to minimise the impact,” said the carmaker in a statement.

However, its utility vehicles such as Brezza, Ertiga, S-Cross, XL6 and Grand Vitara clocked higher sales last month at 33,008 units as against 26,982 units in the year-ago period.

Tarun Garg, Director (Sales, Marketing & Service), Hyundai Motor India said SUVs now contribute to more than 50% of the company’s overall volumes.

The maker of Creta also reported its highest ever sales for calendar year 2022. It retained its No 2 spot for full year, moving ahead of Tata Motors by a good margin. However, Tata emerged as the second largest carmaker for the month of December.

Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd. and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd. said, “Going forward, we expect the growth momentum for EVs to remain strong with their rising popularity and the announcement of progressive policies by several states. Overall, we expect the PV industry to continue witnessing robust demand in the next quarter.”

For the calendar year 2022, the industry reported record high sales at 37.93 lakh units against 30.82 lakh in 2021.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) also reported a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 62% to 28,333 units for its UV sales while the sales of cars declined 56% to 112 units.

Going forward, Veejay Nakra, President, Automotive Division, M&M said that due to continuing international disruptions and increasing coronavirus cases, we are keeping a close watch on the dynamic supply chain situation.”

Kia India said its cumulative sales have crossed the 8-lakh milestone since beginning its mass production in August 2019.

Yuichi Murata, Director, Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India Ltd said that the year 2022 has been positive for the company. “Honda City and Amaze continue to drive volumes for HCIL and have posted strong performance in year 2022. We had to realign our targets due to chip shortage which impacted our production throughout the year.”

Two Wheelers

Market leader Hero MotoCorp reported a marginal growth in domestic sales on a YoY basis. Similarly, its sales grew 0.4% as compared to November 2022, when it stood at 3.79 lakh units.

Satoshi Uchida, Managing Director, Suzuki Motorcycle India said, “In December 2022, the company exported 23,007 units from India. This is the highest ever monthly export sales reported by the company till date.”

Commercial Vehicles & Three Wheelers

The domestic sales were in green across the segment. Market leader Tata Motors reported YoY growth for M&HCV and passenger carrier segments, however I&LCV and SCV cargo, pickup dropped.

Girish Wagh, Executive Director, Tata Motors said that the company focused on retail during Q3FY23 which resulted in reducing inventory as the industry transitions towards BSVI phase-2 norms.

The growth in Q3FY23, was led by stronger sales of MHCVs (+35% vs Q3FY22) and a robust recovery in passenger carriers demand (+84% vs Q3FY22). Improving fleet utilizations, pick up in road construction projects and increase in cement consumption catalysed the demand recovery for MHCVs.

“Going forward, we expect a good replacement demand, especially in MHCVs in Q4 FY23, as we also maintain a close watch on the evolving geopolitical situation, inflation and interest rate risks on both the supply and demand,” he said.

VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV), a joint venture of the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors said that in the domestic commercial vehicles market, Eicher branded trucks and buses recorded sales of 6,671 units last month as compared to 5,192 units in December 2021, a growth of 28.5%.

Volvo trucks and Volvo buses have recorded sales of 218 units in December 2022 as compared to 152 units in December 2021, representing a growth of 43.4%.

Tractors

Hemant Sikka, President – Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “Rabi crop sowing has progressed very well and is higher than last year’s acreage and also higher than the average of the last 5 years. Wheat and oil seeds are expected to be bumper harvest.”

“On the back of strong Rabi sowing, good kharif procurement and likely exports of wheat, the sentiments continue to remain upbeat in the farming sector, leading to strong demand for tractors and farm implements,” he said.

Escorts Kubota also said, “Rural sentiments continue to remain favorable on account of good kharif procurement, rabi sowing and better water level in reservoirs.”

The revised emission standards for over 50 HP tractors (Bharat Stage TREM IV) are applicable for tractors from January 2023, even as a big proportion of the overall industry (less than 50 HP, constituting about 92% of sales in FY2022) would continue to be governed by Bharat Stage TREM IIIA norms.

(This is a developing story. We will keep updating as the companies release their sales data.)

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