New Delhi, May 12
Riding on strong pent-up demand and economic recovery, India’s sales of passenger vehicles in April 2023 registered the highest ever growth in any April of 12.9 per cent with dispatches of 3,31,278 units compared to PV sales of 2,93,303 in April 2022. Data released for the month by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers on Friday shows all segments — passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers posting buoyant wholesale volumes in April 2023.
“This clearly indicates that Industry has been able to transit very smoothly to BS 6 Phase 2 emission norms from 1 April, 2023, said Vinod Aggarwal, President, SIAM. Two-wheeler sales were 13,38,588 units in April 2023, which says Rajesh Menon, Director General of SIAM, is a growth of 15.1 per cent, compared to last year. Domestic sales of three-wheelers in April 2023 at 42,885 units reached “nearer to the pre-covid levels for the month of April,” according to Menon.
The total production of PVs, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycle in April 2023 was 19,57,599 units. “As we gradually get into the monsoon season, among other factors, good rainfall can also help the auto Industry sustain its growth,” said Aggarwal. For quarter four (January to March) of FY23, the auto industry witnessed a stable demand environment, though there were signs of volume growth moderation in some segments, says an assessment by Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Demand largely remained intact for medium and heavy commercial vehicles, tractors and domestic 2Ws, whereas growth moderated for PVs and LCVs and 2W exports remained weak.
“In terms of wholesale volumes, MOFSL estimates 4QFY23 volumes to have grown by 11 per cent yoy for PVs, 17 per cent for M&HCVs, 21 per cent for tractors and 9 per cent for 3Ws. While 2Ws volumes were flat yoy due to a 32 per cent decline in exports, domestic volumes grew 13 per cent and LCV volumes is also estimated to have grown 1 per cent. Wholesales growth was partly aided by marriage season and mini festive in 4QFY23 with CVs and PVs standing out as the only segments to post QoQ improvements in volumes.
As for the performance of companies in April 2023, the positive momentum continues on the strength of new arrivals. Honda Cars India registered monthly domestic sales of 5,313 units in April 2023. Hyundai Motor India registered domestic sales of 49,701 units and export sales of 8,500 units with cumulative sales of 58,201 units for the month of April 2023. The healthy double digit growth in the domestic market in the month of April was backed by the response to the recently launched all-new Hyundai VERNA that has more than doubled its volumes from its earlier version. Kia reported strong growth of 24 per cent in January-April 2023 over the corresponding period last year and 22 per cent y-o-y growth with 23,216 units sold in April 2023. Kia Sonet becomes the best-selling product with 9,744 units in April 2023 followed by Seltos with 7,213 units.
The export numbers for HCIL stood at 2,363 units for the month. The company had registered 7,874 units in domestic sales and exported 2,042 units in April’22. Maruti Suzuki India sold a total of 160,529 units in April 2023 which included domestic sales of 139,519 units, sales to other OEM of 4,039 units and exports of 16,971 units. While the shortage of electronic components had some impact on the production of vehicles, the company took all possible measures to minimise the impact.
Nissan Motor India (NMIPL) registered wholesales growth of 24 per cent in April 2023, with 3249 units dispatched. Domestic wholesales were at 2617 units and export at 632 units as the new Nissan Magnite garnered over 1 lakh customer bookings. Rakesh Srivastava, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India expects to see customer sentiment remain positive on account of GDP growth and normal monsoon, with industry projections of high single digit growth for the FY2023-24 period.
Tata Motors sales in the domestic and international market for April 2023 stood at 69,599 vehicles, compared to 72,468 units during April 2022. Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) sales of 14,162 domestic units in the month of April, 2023 was 6 per cent lower yoy as a maintenance shutdown for upkeep of machinery and equipment limited the production. The company also exported 1,348 units of the Urban Cruiser Hyryder this month, thus clocking a total of 15,510 units. The Toyota Hilux, Innova Hycross and the New Innova Crystal continue a strong run on high demand