The Indian passenger vehicle market is set to post a record of about Rs 1.1 lakh crore in turnover in the 87-day festive period of 2023, with volumes that are estimated to cross 1 million units for the first time.
The season that started with Onam in Kerala in August till the end of Dussehra has witnessed about 7 lakh units in retail, which is 20 percent higher than last year and it is estimated that in the next 15-20 days, dealers are likely to deliver another additional 3 lakh units which will help the market breach a million unit mark once the peak Diwali period is over.
Interestingly it will be the 10th consecutive month of record dispatches for the industry – staying on course to cross the 4 million units mark and end 2023 with 4.1 million units.
Autocar Professional learns the car makers are set to dispatch around 3.8 lakh units in October 2023 – scaling yet another peak bettering, 3.63 lakh units wholesale in September 2023.
Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki told Autocar Professional, “It has been a year of new peaks. The demand momentum has held firm and the inventory in the market too has remained fairly in control. The increased stock due to the availability of semiconductors and continued demand for personal mobility has helped the market see new highs. Going by the momentum, the industry may surpass 1 million unit sales this festive season, which is a healthy double-digit growth.”
Not only have the volumes sustained record highs, but even value has grown significantly, thanks to the average price moving up due to new regulations and more feature packed vehicles. The average price of the vehicle industry currently stands at about Rs 11 lakh versus Rs 9.5 lakh last year.
Maruti Suzuki on its part is sitting on bookings of over 2.65 lakh units, Hyundai Motor India is over 1-1.5 lakh units, Mahindra & Mahindra too is over 1.5-2 lakh units indicating that there is enough traction in the market for new models especially newly launched SUVs like Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Hyundai Exter, Mahindra XUV 700 amongst others.
Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India said during the (year to date) growth so far, “Our SUVs continue to receive overwhelming customer response. We see the festive momentum sustaining until Diwali,” he added.
Running up to the key festivities of Diwali, the passenger vehicle market is estimated to have an inventory of about 3.2 lakh units at the end of October. At the same time, the pending booking is around 5-6 lakh units across car makers at present, which is likely to come down once the festive season concludes.
Unlike last year, now that the semiconductor issue eased post-July, it has helped car makers ramp up output and bring down the long waiting period. The retail momentum post-Diwali will determine the production plan in the forthcoming months.
While the number of days of inventory has been hovering around 30-40 days, the value in stock is at a whopping 4.5 billion dollars or about Rs 36,000 crore, underlining the critical role the industry plays in contributing to GDP as well as the GST collection of the government.