Buoyed by festive season sentiments and soaring demand for utility vehicles, India’s passenger vehicle wholesales logged 2,35,309 units in December 2022, a 7.2 per cent year-on-year growth over the 219,421 units sold a year ago and touched the highest ever figure of nearly 3.8 million units for calendar 2022, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Friday.
Three-wheeler sales were 38,693 units in December 2022 and two-wheeler sales were 10,45,052 units in December 2022. The total production of PVs, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycle in the month of December 2022 was 15,57,238 units. On a quarterly basis, Indian auto industry dispatched 9,34,955 units of PVs from factories to dealers in the 3rd October-December quarter of 2022. Three-wheeler sales were 1,38,511 units and two-wheeler sales were 38,59,030 units in the 3rd quarter of 2022. Commercial vehicle wholesales were 2,27,111 units in October – December 2022. The total production of passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycle in the third quarter of 2022 was 61,57,013 units. “Weakness in rural demand continues, as high food inflation and increased financing cost is impacting the rural market,” said Menon.
According to Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM, in Q3 of FY23, PV grew by 23 per cent, CV by 17 per cent, three-Wheelers by 68 per cent and two-wheelers by 6 per cent compared to last year. Commenting on the data of 2022 calendar year, President SIAM Vinod Aggarwal said the sales of PVs were about 4 lakh units higher than the last peak in 2018. Commercial vehicles reported sales of 9.3 lakh units which is just about 72000 units lower than the earlier peak in 2018, three-Wheeler sales are still lower than 2010 sales and two-wheeler lower than 2014. Compared to the last calendar year, growth in CVs have been noteworthy, L5 category of three-wheelers have recovered well although from a low base of the previous year, while the two-wheelers have grown at a much slower pace in this calendar year, compared to the other categories of vehicles, Aggarwal pointed out.
The umbrella body of the auto industry has also, in collaboration with the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA), developed a Virtual Centre of Excellence (CoE) which was launched by the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri at Auto Expo 2023. The CoE marks an important step towards India achieving E20 by 2025 and provides users with information on ethanol, biomass for bioenergy, and sustainability of biofuels and stakeholders with relevant technological and policy initiatives that will smoothen India’s transition to low-carbon mobility. “The launch of CoE will support and complement the governments’ efforts in promoting bioenergy, biofuels, and other bio-based fuels for low-carbon mobility in India and Brazil,” said Aggarwal who is also MD & CEO Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles.
Brazil is one of the largest producers of ethanol in the world and is home to the world’s largest fleet of cars that use ethanol as fuel. India also has a strong focus on biofuels and has brought forward by five years, to 2025, the goal of achieving a 20 per cent ethanol blend in gasoline. India is the second largest sugar producer in the world, after Brazil, and has the potential to convert surplus sugar stocks into ethanol. The Minister who visited the auto show as the chief guest, also inaugurated the Ethanol pavilion where Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) is also taking part as part of its commitment to achieve Net Zero Carbon in manufacturing operations by 2035. Toyota has recently launched the pilot project on Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FFV-SHEV) Technology and has displayed at the Ethanol Pavilion, the Flex-fuel Vehicle (FFV) offering. In addition, the Flex-fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FFV-SHEV) is also being displayed.